Zay Freeman was staying with us the week of severe weather over Georgia earlier this year. During the floods, Zay and Caiden played in our front yard, having a good time jumping in the puddles with our water loving Labradoodle, Lincoln. Brighton had his camera out and ready to gain sight of a tornado watch, but captured Zay and Lincoln mid air, with their paws on each other. Keller was inside packing a survival backpack, because a tornado warning meant something to him. I like our kind of meteorology.

I asked Brighton if I could use his photograph to fit the image with another medium. I chose pen & India ink to accentuate that this profile shot is about shape.

At my initial study of the photograph, I hand inked 10 thank you notes on 3.5″x5″ watercolor paper addressed to Urban Community Life’s 2017 financial benefactors, with 18 beneficiary signatures on the back. Then more donations came in, and I hand inked another 15 more thank you notes on a larger piece (5″x6.5″) of watercolor paper. Finally, our biggest donations came in, and I hand inked 5 more thank you notes on 6″x9″ watercolor paper.

The message reads, “Friends, your arms are so wide – with gifts so generous – thank you so much – for the summer camp wishes.”

I hand inked the last image on 11″x15″ watercolor paper, to use as a t-shirt design, and I recognized another theme, which means, I want to change the perspective and fit the image in charcoal or graphite.

~ §tacy §weeney