[or how Ariel Gore and Tess Emily Rodriguez Rocked My Quarantine World]
I tried to learn how to do things and use quarantine time constructively as best I could. My kids lives were taking a dark turn in the isolation and I kept trying to over compensate which is its own art too. I learned how to quilt (sort of), try out new recipes (yay that worked!)and I once again took out barely used pens and charcoal and pencils and attempted to draw.
I am not at all comfortable with my drawing as anything but a very quiet diary entry–for no one to ever see but myself–that might be why I gravitate towards writer Ariel Gore’s illustrations. During quarantine she delivered drawing upon drawing of hybrid animals with sage advice–and had enough of them to make a coloring book. BEHOLD:
Now mind you, I also spent quarantine taking some awesome classes with her generating new material etc (you can read about it at the above link and there are more classes coming up in the fall.
Last year I moved into a new house with a new husband in a new town ( I also still live in my mom’s old house in my old town too). I wanted new art for the new walls and Tess Emily Rodriguez was posting amazing drawing after drawing on instagram @thetessemily. She illustrated the Ask Erin column at Ravishly too,
She has an etsy shop of all her great prints! Here’s the ones I bought:
They are hanging in my office and kitchen. Tess is also behind the illustration of my first collection of short stories with this beautiful sad girl:
Both women and their work are entirely worth checking out. I bought more than my fair share of the coloring books (I just mailed out three of them to unsuspecting friends. My daughter’s new bedroom is about to be inundated with Tess art too.
It’s important to me that we support artists whenever we can. BUY THEIR STUFF. Okay. This has been my public service announcement.
Throwing Chanclas 