"Courage" for A Cause

Our greater Rochester community suffered a tragic event on Christmas Eve 2012. While not on the scale of the recent tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, it certainly brings those memories and images too close to home, especially since this occurred only 10 days after Sandy Hook.

The Story: A man set fire to a house up by Lake Ontario, then opened fire on the first responders. Two firefighters, nineteen-year-old Tomasz Kaczowka and Michael Chiapperini, were killed in the ambush and Joseph Hofstetter and Theodore Scardino were injured. One police officer had minor injuries related to a bullet-shattered windshield. The gunman fled the scene so the burning homes could not be secured. The fire spread and eventually seven homes burned to the ground and two more have been deemed uninhabitable. The gunman was found dead a few hours later from suicide. His sister was later found dead inside the shooter's home. 

The killed and injured firefighters were from the West Webster Fire Department. Many, many fundraisers have been started to aid the families of the deceased, injured, and those who lost everything in the fires. 

You know me... I can't sit back and do nothing when people are suffering from senseless violence like this. So I sat down and created this piece of artwork to donate to this cause: Fundraising Raffle for the Families of the West Webster Firefighters.

The fundraising event is tonight - sorry for the short notice. You can still buy $5 raffle tickets at the door from 5:00 - 5:45 pm at the Applebee's on Empire Blvd. in Webster. Please contact Walter MacDonald IV at 585-269-4761 for information.

"Courage"
acrylic monoprint on paper, ink, collage
4" x 6"
© 2013 Victoria Porter

I wanted to honor the fallen as well as those who keep our community safe everyday. It is  their COURAGE that make them special. 

This piece started as a monoprint made with my Gelli Printing Plate. I used stencils,  some store-bought and some of my own design, and lots and lots of layers of paint, which created this texture that I'm in looooove with. 

The lettering was stamped and altered a bit to make it thicker. The stars, hearts, hand, and wings are paper and were collaged onto the piece after I did all the drawings on it. Then I went back and outlined things in white to make them pop. 

I worked on this piece here and there over the course of the past few weeks. The work has fit in nicely with my {be creative everyday} practice. 

Of course, I would have liked to post this sooner, but it took me a few extra days to complete as I had to do my own framing. I drew right to the edges of the 4"x6" paper so a traditional standard mat for a piece this size would have covered the edges. That left me with a fussy sized mat window to cut. I got it right on my first try! I wanted to keep the frame size small so the organizers weren't storing and transporting large glass pieces. Plus I knew the Rochester Artisans would be donating a lot of work (62 pieces in total thanks to Stefani Tadio!).

I can only hope my work brings some measure of peace to this community and to those directly affected by this event.   

- Vickie