Thistle by Tenaya Sims

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Womanly love, simple affections and childlike adoration are probably more endured than expected perhaps. However, Sims has gone all the way to imagine himself in this position and paint it for hours. The beautiful blue of the sheath is something men usually like around their women, bedroom and beds. Be it curtains, lighting drapes, bedsheets, a woman’s clothing drape or any such swishing element is always a place to dig.

Back to the painting – Digging in your head, or snuggling into your favorite smell are all feelings and words you can never think of someone having propped up into a vivid painting – but that is exactly what Sims has done!
The thistle in the foreground, almost buried in the subtlety of Sims’ colors is perhaps the most important being of that day. The artist’s woman is a subject, while Sims, again painting himself, puts the man in a rather fresh position. You have seen broken men, warriors, suicidal lovers and even Gods in paintings. But what about a child-like man, whose thoughts in the head he hides is nothing like a child – only the way he explores and wanders forming them.
The delicateness of postures in this painting is very telling about the relationship, and it seems to be a one with healthy complications. However, that I would say is must for an artist!

Sims’ work has captured my diligence because he has put in 100 times what I can ever, in making every aspect of a photographic memory count. Not only does he end up putting them to us in ideas and words, but simply reproduce them in color before anyone has asked a question. (No one then really continues to believe dreams are black and white!) Oil-on-canvas is a perfect combination for this story because of so much draping present in the subject matter.
The obvious detail, which I have left untouched, is the alabaster character of the environment surrounding them. Cement, and what a hard cement it is for the Thistle!