Painting through the pandemic

The first night of the “Safer at Home” order in Los Angeles, as I stood in my room taking stock of art supplies and looking for a modicum of control in this new rona-world, I decided I would start painting a five-by-five inch square every day.

I stuck to it, and considered the project done when a whole wall of my room was covered. This wall tells my visual story of the pandemic months – a story where I found solace in both farmers markets and Netflix, fostered a kitten, protested in the streets, memorized every single block of my neighborhood, and celebrated the outdoors. 

Here are a few of my favorite subjects I ended up painting.

The foster kitten

Two weeks into lockdown, I decided to foster a kitten. Luckily, I ended up with the MOST beautiful little painting muse, Murphy. (Unluckily, he had a lot of ailments and my apartment became a cat pharmacy, but don’t worry! He’s healthy now!)

On final count, after 7 months together, I ended up with 16 paintings of Murphy, plus more of his toys, medicine, and other accessories. He only attacked the paintbrush a few times and only rarely tried to drink the paint water.

The great and safe outdoors

In the beginning months of the pandemic, when most outdoor spaces in and around LA were closed, I longingly painted my hiking boots and settled for appreciating the nice plants in my neighborhood.

When trails, beaches, and parks reopened, I found solace in trees and water and being able to be with friends and family in them! Thank you nature, thank you year-round LA sun 🙏🏼

The big moments

Some major 2020 moments I saw and knew I needed to document:

  • A Black Lives Matter flag flying from the Capitol Records building, during the Hollywood BLM march

  • The LA Hall of Justice surrounded by the National Guard

  • The LA Times the day after Biden/Harris won

The small moments

I was so fortunate to be able to find good, small things that made me happy in this period, and to mindfully document them through this painting project.

I read a stack of books. I finally got around to watching Killing Eve. I lovingly painted the beautiful creases of my takeout bag, and stopped to notice that my neighbors’ two recycling bins looked like a pair of goofy uncles sharing a laugh. I painted and drew. I grocery shopped, I pulled up approximately one million green onions from my friend’s garden plot, I shopped at the farmer’s market. I let bananas get too brown. I got coffee from my favorite shop.

There was beauty in this time, and now it lives on my wall, and I’m so glad it does.