In September 2019, I wrote, “Recently, the world has felt so dark. The news can be so overwhelming, and it’s easy to feel a sense of hopelessness and despair. As always, there are those individuals that burn like beacons in the dark, showing us the way forward. Powerful women are stepping forward worldwide to guide us. These include Americans like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Ruth Bader Ginsberg, as well as international figures such as Greta Thunberg, the young Swedish climate activist, and Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand.”
Things haven’t changed all that much since I wrote those words. The world still feels a bit dark as we struggle to get past the COVID-19 pandemic. Millions of people have died, and thousands continue to die daily; this isn’t over, despite what some people believe. It could be over if we all pulled together, but that doesn’t seem to be what we want to do, so instead, we’ll drag this horrible situation out a little longer. I’m tired of COVID; I’m sick of hearing about it and talking about it, but most of all, I’m sick of people’s ignorance and selfishness. For the past two years, I have done everything possible to help us all move toward the end of the pandemic. I’ve stayed home and have rarely traveled. In two years, I have ventured beyond my city limits three times: twice to see my father-in-law as he reached the end of his life and once for a mental health day. Shit, I don’t even go to the new Starbucks down my street; I’m six minutes away, but I’ve chosen to stay home to protect myself, my wife, and others. No, I don’t like it, but it’s what will get us all to the end of COVID. Sadly, It’s become clear that not everyone sees things the same way. Humans suck. What can you say? Fortunately, there are people in the world who exemplify the better angels of our nature. I have had nothing but mad respect for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ever since I read about her heartfelt response to the horrific mosque shootings that occurred in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, on March 15, 2019. Following the shootings, Prime Minister Ardern went out into Christchurch’s Islamic community and embraced the bereaved and bereft families of the fifty innocent victims murdered that horrific day. The empathy that she demonstrated at that moment was extraordinary. The look on her face in photos from that dark day tells the whole story. The deep compassion Prime Minister Ardern showed that somber day merits being documented and written about so that it’s not soon forgotten.
The last two years have been sluggish, tedious, and exhausting. This lull in daily life has allowed me to pull back from social media and invest my time in activities that will enable me to grow and will enrich my work. For me, it always goes back to reading about the people and things that inspire me and that help me in my quest to expand my worldview. When I returned to blogging last summer, I did so for a reason. Not only did I want to give people an insight into the daily ups and downs of creating art professionally, but I also wanted to give people an insight into what drives me to create art. My sphere of interest is wide-ranging, and it’s through those interests I hope to provide an honest and nuanced look at my life as an artist and the world at large. This post is an excellent example of what I aim to show you, my dear readers.
Since my first blog post about Prime Minister Ardern, my respect for her has grown even more, especially after seeing how she has dealt with COVID-19 in her country. While the United States has stumbled through the malady that is COVID-19, Prime Minister Ardern has led by example and taken action when action was needed. Her dedication to getting her country through this difficult time has not wavered. In the face of the Omicron variant, the prime minister has imposed further restrictions in New Zealand and even postponed her upcoming wedding due to Omicron’s potential for rapid spread.
After reading about the prime minister’s recent activities, I knew it was time to address her portrait in earnest. In the tumult of the past two years, I had forgotten that the fine people at Stillman & Birn had kindly sent me a sketchbook that I’d decided to turn into a book of portraits. That sketchbook, for whatever reason, ended up on a shelf in my garage. Yes, I know it sounds strange, but it happens: work gets forgotten and rediscovered. To my great surprise, I found a half-completed drawing of Jacinda Ardern from the summer of 2019 that beckoned me to sit down and finish what I had started. For the sake of comparison, I have included my original sketch along with my updated version.
Delicacy is of primary importance when it comes to drawing women. Thankfully, my drawing pens allow me a fair amount of control, so it’s easy to correct and redo my linework. I’ve fixed specific features such as her nose and finessed others such as the outline of her face. However, the two most significant changes that I made are the addition of a pattern on Prime Minister Ardern’s headscarf and the black in the background. The weight and gravitas of the events of that day are sad and mournful, so I felt that an all-black background would add some psychological weight and reinforce the anguished look on the prime minister’s face. Without the pattern, her headscarf is just an ocean of uninteresting fabric and folds; the addition of pattern adds visual interest, breaks up the monotony of the drapery, and most importantly, shows her solidarity with the Muslim community of Christchurch. Details such as these are essential in conveying character in a portrait.
Capturing expressions of pain and grief are tricky in any medium, let alone in pen and ink, where draftsmanship is everything. If you’re not careful, you run the risk of overdoing it and turning your drawing into a caricature instead of an intimate and revealing portrait. I can only hope that I’ve come close to capturing the pained and heartfelt expression of empathy on Prime Minister Ardern’s face as she consoled the families of the innocent victims that lost their lives that dark day. It’s essential to get things right when you do portraits like this. People died; details must be accurate and worked out – there’s no room for mediocrity.
I hope we’ve learned something from the past two years as we move forward. During that time, it’s become clear that ignorance and selfishness do not work. Empathy and knowledge are the only things that will ensure that we don’t end up in some post-apocalyptic future. Time will tell if we have learned anything or if we’re going to insist on making things hard on ourselves. The world continues to feel dark and uncertain as we attempt to push forward and return to a semblance of normality. It’s easy to become pessimistic during these turbulent times, but thankfully people such as Jacinda Ardern continue to be beacons of light and serve as an example to all of us not by word but by deed.
Love your blog, Salvador! Right one!