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“Resentment”

2016 | 17”x14” | Mixed-media:
Prismacolor Verithin red/blue colored pencil, Derwent Inktense pencils, white charcoal, and water brush on cold press watercolor paper.
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‘His finger traced the blades of her shoulders, tattooing her skin with imaginary shapes.

“Here...” he said. “There should be a pair of wings right here.”

Hearing this, she bit her lip, knowing for the first time the faint taste of resentment.

Back then the flavor was too subtle to identify. She salivated and hummed, the words “I am no angel” rolling in her mouth. Bitter... She swallowed them down rather than spitting it up, assuming herself betrayed by her senses. She just couldn’t believe she had any business even flirting with Heaven.

But as the years passed, she learned to refine her palate. Her nose became more discerning as her tongue grew more skilled. She licked and licked at his darkness, like a candle, trying her best to bring his promises to light.
But soon she turned to licking her own wounds, now able to smell the bullshit among roses and from over a mile away. She licked the places where her wings had been—the ones he had built for her as he beamed with pride, crediting himself for her flight—not realizing (as she did now) that it was for him she had landed.’

“RESENTMENT” is a reminder to take a closer look. Sometimes the real story is not what it first seems.
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FLORIOGRAPHY:
• Acacia: Chastity; thorns
• Petunias: Resentment
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Featured at Verge Center for The Arts Sacramento (September 2016).