"Make-Shift Angel XXIV: The Gift"
9 x 12"
Acrylic on canvas
Not For Sale
Make-Shift Angel, the novel, is now available!

Here.

When I painted my first "Make-Shift Angel" back in 2007, I didn't expect it to become a series, but time has proven otherwise. Indeed, they are my favorite paintings of my own and are quite often the most personal. They have also become, to a large degree, a series of unintentional hand studies. Without visible faces, my angels had to express themselves in other ways, and beautiful hands proved a deciding factor in choosing my favorite models. There's just something about hands--they're ability to create, destroy, love, rend, reflect who we are and what we do. Hands are, by their very nature, hopeful.

So, too, are Make-Shift Angels. Though they have moments of sadness and stasis, in the end they will sew, they will mend themselves and move on. More than stubbornness, they are driven by hope. We are all Make-Shift Angels in our way, with storied scars. Whatever the wound, we keep sewing, keep living, loving, creating, and moving on.

Ten years and twenty-four paintings on, I continue to be overcome by the response that the series has received. I am overcome bringing it to a (hypothetical) close again, but I've made a vow to never dilute it--it means too much, to me and others. Instead, I leave the second series with an angel that I feel encompasses them all. He still has sewing to do, but he knows that you do, too.

My thanks to B. Samani-Sprunk for modeling.

All artwork and graphics are property of the artist and are not to be reproduced without permission.

Artwork and text © Arden Ellen Nixon