Being that it is July already and I haven’t posted a blog since the one about the Nuns in March, I believe I am accomplishing this goal.
In the interests of writing less, I have also expanded my social media world to Instagram, where it’s really all about the pictures, not the words, so please follow me there too…#judytakacs. I’m posting work in progress on the Chicks paintings.
And, I have finally changed my facebook fanpage name to Judy Takacs, artist and have posted selected Chicks paintings there. Please check it out and give it a “like” if you’re so inclined.
I really have been feverishly, furiously, passionately painting my next set of Chicks for my ongoing series, Chicks with Balls. And here’s the first one I am ready to present to you…“Blazine, a heart of gold”.
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| Blazine, a heart of gold by Judy Takács |
I met Blazine on facebook, we have mutual friends and exchanged high fives in the form of likes and comments for some of our opinions about an on-going art-persecution situation in the nearby quaint town of Chagrin Falls, Ohio. (If you’re looking for more Ohio Art Persecution, sadly you will find it…read about Loren Naji a Cleveland Gallery owner, and Karen Prasser former director of the Solon Center for the Arts.)
One thing led to another and Blazine volunteered to pose for Chicks. When I told her that I was working on other projects and would return to the Chicks in a few months, she told me she needed to pose right away.
Now, since Chicks with Balls opened last summer at BAYarts, I’ve had more than a few women volunteer for Chicks (and a couple dudes too.) Sometimes they are eagerly awaiting my phone call, we schedule a day, do the pose and it’s all good. Other times, however, multiple emails and phone calls are exchanged and nothing materializes. So, to have a willing participant wanting to pose right away was a godsend to this “get it done” gal.
And so Blazine came to pose. Turns out she was going through chemotherapy and juggling the schedule of feeling good vs. feeling bad with her active life of caring for her people. Blazine had recently underwent a double mastectomy and would, in a month or so stop chemo, grow her hair back and go back for reconstructive surgery. The urgency was, much to my relief, not because of a bad prognosis. She said she was doing great and I was thrilled that posing for Chicks was a thing she was driven to do now. She didn’t want to let life, surgery, recovery and a rushed return to normalcy divert her from the passion of this artistic and bold decision.
I love when people feel compelled to pose like this. It means they are as driven by the art as I am, and I know that is an awesome feeling. I’m thrilled to share it with my friends and honored they have trusted me to create art using their inspiration as mine.
The balls Blazine chose, had nothing to do with her own cancer. She chose gold beach balls; the gold symbolizing childhood cancer; a cause she has been active with for years. The gold beach balls were a delight to paint, second only to Blazine’s strong, smart, stable and beautiful bald presence.
Blazine’s portrait fell together as easily as her offer to pose fell into my lap.
I call the painting, “Blazine, heart of gold”