I am prepared for the worst but hope for the best.
—Benjamin Disraeli
To prepare for the worst but hope for the best? Something everyone has to do at least once in their lifetime. For me that was during fall semester when a person who is very close to me was struck with a sickness that I didn’t know if they would be able to over come. Hope was the only thing that kept me going and it still is.
One of the things that helped me hold onto that hope even during the worst was being able to create art. So for this piece in particular it was a very good stress reliever especially once it got closer to the holidays. For this dry point I chose to do, what to me is, a symbol of hope. Elephants for the longest time have been used to symbolize hope and strength.
With that in mind I did a lined dry point of an elephant. It took me a couple of tries to get it just right, I had only done the dry point of an elephant head rather than doing the whole body. In a way I wanted the elephant to be facing head on to showcase being able to get through any obstacle it faces. I had wanted this to be a relatively dark piece that only had spots of highlight in certain areas to bring that into emphasis. Because when you’re going through a tough time it may seem like the only thing surrounding you is darkness but eventually, through all of that, there is light, and that light is hope.
