This one took a lot of layering. It is done with watercolor as well as ink. Each color on the armor was a layer not a careful dabbing here and there. Her tail and skin as well. I found it precarious working with the watercolor {which was perhaps fitting given the story…}. This piece bookended Mermay 2020 which was started by “Back Into The Free Sea”. It also is a theme of letting go though it is very different in how it says it. With “A Deep Listener”, the message is more of a weariness of material status. The helpless conquistadors sinks down into the dark oblivion with only his thoughts. He sees a pair of eyes reflected the sun off of his fatal armor. Will she grant him mercy? For a moment there is nothing else in the world but these to locked in all the possibilities and stakes a dialogue of only eye contact might have as well as one’s ability to listen and decide what is right. It reminds me of how simple things can really be and how ephemeral material wealth and status actually is.

Frame not included