fur mom's fear
a flea is discovered
bath time!
© Rachel Green August 2026
Degas's paintings
were never finished;
for he was never satisfied with them.
Sometimes
they must be removed from the artist
and padlocked to the wall
to prevent them taking it back
and reworking.
Sometimes those three marks that were perfect them
seem ridiculous
in the light of experience.
© Rachel Green August 2026
early lunch
before homeward flight
tear-laden food
desires for painting
outstrip my meagre abilities
imposter syndrome overtakes.
scraped canvas
indentured with browns and greys
the influence of anxiety
depicted in earth tones.
© Rachel Green August 2026
out on my own
and trusted with the house keys
running back to the shop
© Rachel Green August 2026
subtext
first painting of size
in many years;
acrylics, pastel
pen, ink, enamel spray.
A study in green and blue.
Revelations
© Rachel Green August 2026
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Jack Russell
with an excited 'good morning'
told off by mum
© Rachel Green August 2026
Notes for Adjustments
Bodies (underlined)
break image into random quadrants
bottom left Head dark
twisted torso
(white flesh / dark red head)
very high key/white/creams
body pale - vertical dissection
bleached out body
EVERY MARK
rub red when white still tacky (use tinted primer)
Carcass (underlined)
HAS A PERSPECTIVE
Mute
Heads. Blind heads
Mapping heads. Albino
Kissing mouth / Broken Teeth
© Rachel Green August 2026
cooler breeze
the windows open
in my happy place
© Rachel Green August 2026
How you See is Who you are
How do you see Cleopatra?
Priestess? Goddess? Whore?
Widowed wife and mother
struggling to survive
inside a Patriarchal society?
Or do you see her depicted
by Elizabeth Taylor,
smuggled into Rome
in a rolled-up carpet?
Is she an aging woman
having a last fling
with the declining hero Anthony
or a Queen
fully embracing her power
and taking for her lover
the dashing warrior he once was?
© Rachel Green August 2026
chaotic square
beset with stalls and tables
oyster faire
© Rachel Green August 2026
a poisoner;
tossed for execution
stretched across the crossbeam
of a marketplace arch.
No cries as his limbs are twisted
on the rotating terminus
for he is already sans teeth
sans tongue.
But what of the executioner?
Does he sleep easy?
Or do the cracking bones and splitting skins
inhabit his nightly hours
and does he love his wife still?
© Rachel Green August 2026
early rewards
birdsong and cicadas
pink sky
© Rachel Green August 2026
repeated lines
extensive drawings of the figure
without erasure;
movement in a static image
is the heritage of Degas
and an unrequited love
for Giacometti
© Rachel Green August 2026
