August 9, 2011
Dear Reader,
20 Pages, 20 Paintings! (well, 21 if you include the cover...)
Thanks to all of you who have been with me since page 1, or since whatever page you came in on, and welcome to those of you who are just joining me today! Your attention and support is so appreciated and makes a project like this even more worthwhile. I truly enjoy sharing Goatwater with you on a weekly basis. Since I went weekly with it, Goatwater has become more of a dynamic and welcome presence in my life; it always offers me far more than I ask of it. My audience is growing and expanding, as is Goatwater. Page 20 also comes with a transcript, which I will include more often with future pages - especially when there is a lot more text on the painting. You will find the transcript below at the very end of this page. This week, I also want to take a moment to briefly address a couple of questions readers have asked me.
Why did you choose to paint Goatwater on cotton rag paper?
As I’ve mentioned before on this site, I hand paint each page with acrylic paint, Indian ink and gesso straight onto cotton rag paper. I also handwrite the lettering with a mixture of pen, paint and ink. There is something about the paper being cotton and cotton having so much historical relevance here in the United States, especially. It’s the crop, no matter how beautiful it looks growing in the open cotton fields of the southern United States, that is mostly associated with American slavery. The cotton rag paper I use has long fibers, making it strong, but appears delicate especially at lighter weights. Goatwater is actually painted on two different weights of cotton rag. It’s a raw looking kind of textured paper that offers no sheen or polish. I like that.
Where did you come up with the idea for Goatwater?
I will have more to say on this in coming weeks, but Goatwater is the product of the union between poetry and painting. It is the fulfillment of my dream to explore the world contained within the borders of one of my paintings or poems more thoroughly. I often create many pieces, whether through writing or visual arts, that I feel have so much more story to them. Goatwater allows me the space to explore the characters and situations that continue to arise within the Goatwater-world through poems, stories, vignettes and painted images. It is an attempt at, what I call, Uncivilized Storytelling, storytelling which does not follow any traditional rules other than the rules of the world contained within the story, poem, painting, etc., itself.
Here’s an earlier painting I did some months before I began working on Goatwater, which shows some of my inclinations in this direction. Painting it was like attending a school in my imagination that prepared me to engage more confidently with the unconventional storytelling act, which would eventually lead me to creating Goatwater.
GOATWATER, Page 20 - Transcript
A killer, Missus? Me? I am merely a merciful, humble washerman, ordained by the She-Min’ster sea, mind you, to carry out justice. And I’ve already petitioned the true Master for forgiveness if He deems any of my actions fit for Him to forgive. But, see if this pleases you: the first bit of rest that claimed me after the act – well, lady, I never suffered so much in sleep. Feverish from my troubles, I was visited by an embodiment of the sea, dressed in red-green light. She crawled out of a shell, carrying a goatlight in one hand and in the other a white skull, with its long teeth chattering as she walked toward where beneath a tree I lay. I knew this to be the head-bones of my Master. I couldn’t move my body at all so she was able to bring the offensive thing near as she could to my head. This is what he said to me:
“Oh, Itello, let not your foul heart be troubled. When you die, and die black bastard you will, this is what will happen to you: when your spirit leaves your body it will descend a seawater staircase each step made of carnival coral that you could see through as if they are living stained glass. The walls along the staircase will feel strangely like the walls of your mother – and, believe me black man, I know, I know, I know what those feel like – that at the beginning of your life you squeezed through, into one helluva world and then took your first dark, disappointed breath, and then you will cross another body of water, and yes there are other bodies of water beneath the water some will feel like water you are used to, others will feel desert-dry and you will wonder if the heaviness you feel in that dry body of water is because it shelters the spirits of people who died of too much heat or loneliness and without some hard, hard liquor or goatwater de la fete to drink, courtesy of a menace called Missus who will serve you, sinner, in life or death and –" I woke suddenly after he said this, my mouth moving on its own accord, and with the feeling in my chest that I had been made to swallow all of the bones of my Master’s head.
*Click here to start at the beginning of this webcomic. Have a great week and remember that Goatwater is now updated every Tuesday. Email any questions or comments to bassacards(at)
yahoo.com.
*If this is your first time visiting this site, or you are a regular reader, email me at the address above if you want me to add you to my mailing list so that I can send you an email reminder, every Tuesday, when I’ve added the new page. No spam, and I will not share your email with anybody else, just the link to the new page and some update information, if I have any. And feel free to let me know, at any time, if you want to stop receiving the weekly emails. Thank you for your support!
Dear Reader,
20 Pages, 20 Paintings! (well, 21 if you include the cover...)
Thanks to all of you who have been with me since page 1, or since whatever page you came in on, and welcome to those of you who are just joining me today! Your attention and support is so appreciated and makes a project like this even more worthwhile. I truly enjoy sharing Goatwater with you on a weekly basis. Since I went weekly with it, Goatwater has become more of a dynamic and welcome presence in my life; it always offers me far more than I ask of it. My audience is growing and expanding, as is Goatwater. Page 20 also comes with a transcript, which I will include more often with future pages - especially when there is a lot more text on the painting. You will find the transcript below at the very end of this page. This week, I also want to take a moment to briefly address a couple of questions readers have asked me.
Why did you choose to paint Goatwater on cotton rag paper?
As I’ve mentioned before on this site, I hand paint each page with acrylic paint, Indian ink and gesso straight onto cotton rag paper. I also handwrite the lettering with a mixture of pen, paint and ink. There is something about the paper being cotton and cotton having so much historical relevance here in the United States, especially. It’s the crop, no matter how beautiful it looks growing in the open cotton fields of the southern United States, that is mostly associated with American slavery. The cotton rag paper I use has long fibers, making it strong, but appears delicate especially at lighter weights. Goatwater is actually painted on two different weights of cotton rag. It’s a raw looking kind of textured paper that offers no sheen or polish. I like that.
Where did you come up with the idea for Goatwater?
I will have more to say on this in coming weeks, but Goatwater is the product of the union between poetry and painting. It is the fulfillment of my dream to explore the world contained within the borders of one of my paintings or poems more thoroughly. I often create many pieces, whether through writing or visual arts, that I feel have so much more story to them. Goatwater allows me the space to explore the characters and situations that continue to arise within the Goatwater-world through poems, stories, vignettes and painted images. It is an attempt at, what I call, Uncivilized Storytelling, storytelling which does not follow any traditional rules other than the rules of the world contained within the story, poem, painting, etc., itself.
Here’s an earlier painting I did some months before I began working on Goatwater, which shows some of my inclinations in this direction. Painting it was like attending a school in my imagination that prepared me to engage more confidently with the unconventional storytelling act, which would eventually lead me to creating Goatwater.
GOATWATER, Page 20 - Transcript
A killer, Missus? Me? I am merely a merciful, humble washerman, ordained by the She-Min’ster sea, mind you, to carry out justice. And I’ve already petitioned the true Master for forgiveness if He deems any of my actions fit for Him to forgive. But, see if this pleases you: the first bit of rest that claimed me after the act – well, lady, I never suffered so much in sleep. Feverish from my troubles, I was visited by an embodiment of the sea, dressed in red-green light. She crawled out of a shell, carrying a goatlight in one hand and in the other a white skull, with its long teeth chattering as she walked toward where beneath a tree I lay. I knew this to be the head-bones of my Master. I couldn’t move my body at all so she was able to bring the offensive thing near as she could to my head. This is what he said to me:
“Oh, Itello, let not your foul heart be troubled. When you die, and die black bastard you will, this is what will happen to you: when your spirit leaves your body it will descend a seawater staircase each step made of carnival coral that you could see through as if they are living stained glass. The walls along the staircase will feel strangely like the walls of your mother – and, believe me black man, I know, I know, I know what those feel like – that at the beginning of your life you squeezed through, into one helluva world and then took your first dark, disappointed breath, and then you will cross another body of water, and yes there are other bodies of water beneath the water some will feel like water you are used to, others will feel desert-dry and you will wonder if the heaviness you feel in that dry body of water is because it shelters the spirits of people who died of too much heat or loneliness and without some hard, hard liquor or goatwater de la fete to drink, courtesy of a menace called Missus who will serve you, sinner, in life or death and –" I woke suddenly after he said this, my mouth moving on its own accord, and with the feeling in my chest that I had been made to swallow all of the bones of my Master’s head.
*Click here to start at the beginning of this webcomic. Have a great week and remember that Goatwater is now updated every Tuesday. Email any questions or comments to bassacards(at)
yahoo.com.
*If this is your first time visiting this site, or you are a regular reader, email me at the address above if you want me to add you to my mailing list so that I can send you an email reminder, every Tuesday, when I’ve added the new page. No spam, and I will not share your email with anybody else, just the link to the new page and some update information, if I have any. And feel free to let me know, at any time, if you want to stop receiving the weekly emails. Thank you for your support!
Goatwater
Copyright 2011
words and images by:
Tiffany Osedra Miller
all rights reserved.
Copyright 2011
words and images by:
Tiffany Osedra Miller
all rights reserved.
The Aboriginal University of Uncivilized Storytelling
(approx. 8" x 7 " - acrylic on cotton rag paper glued to a 3/16" thick wood panel)
(approx. 8" x 7 " - acrylic on cotton rag paper glued to a 3/16" thick wood panel)
I was intrigued by the idea of this being a university of sorts for the wild imaginings of storytellers and artists who feel compelled to be led by ancient, barbaric and uncouth inner professors into some sort of outer picture. The carnival colors, the masks, the shadows, the landscape, the mystery, the whimsy and melancholy of this piece inspired me to want to know, not everything, but a little more about what I paint. I knew I could accomplish this by painting more in this series, as well as writing within the world of what I created here. Though I didn't do that for this particular piece, I am realizing that dream through Goatwater.
In addition to Goatwater, I feature many more paintings on this site, as well as some other writings. I will, at times, feature older paintings that I think were pre-cursors to Goatwater and explain their relevance. Feel free to explore.
In addition to Goatwater, I feature many more paintings on this site, as well as some other writings. I will, at times, feature older paintings that I think were pre-cursors to Goatwater and explain their relevance. Feel free to explore.
