This is a wood burning that I created back in early 2009. I burned the pattern into the wood then added watered down acrylic paints to add the color.
I realize that this week's topic was most likely supposed to be related to Halloween. But I'm not a big fan of Halloween...basically because I'm a huge chicken! So the only thing I could find in my portfolio that had any kind of scary theme to it was this woodburning.
Although this piece of work may not seem to be overwhelmingly frightening there is a story behind this creation. To me it is very scary...a serious subject and a frightening memory for me.
My mom was diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment in March of 2009. That's the doctor's polite way of saying my mom had dementia secondary to Alzheimer's. We had suspicions that she had dementia, but when you finally get that official diagnosis it can be very unsettling. Although I was a mess I had to keep myself together because my mom needed me. So I put my fears on the back burner and focused on doing all I could to be there for her.
Meanwhile a few days after she was diagnosed I pulled out my wood burning tools and just sat with this piece of blank wood in front of me. I decided to just 'doodle' with my wood burner and this was the outcome. The design turned out with a 'crazy over the place' feel to it with eyes full of fear off to the sides. I believe one pair of these eyes were mine and the other pair of eyes belonged to my mom. I know she was scared beyond words, but she never spoke of it. It breaks my heart to remember that sad time in my life.
So this is my idea of 'Scary'...the idea of dementia will always lurk in my mind.
More interesting things to come...until then,
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