This week's playlist.... My Top Ten!

I love the (rare) hot muggy weather Vancouver's been recently blessed with (it almost makes me want to move back to the Maritimes for a sticky summer) so I took an extra day off from my air conditioned office to steal some time at the easel this week.

Painting's a 20 minutes on/ 5 minutes off sort of thing for me, as my eyes are only fresh for 20 minutes at a time (and some days I doubt they're any good that long!) That 5 minutes is often spent standing at my laptop (like now,) but Tuesday I spent those extra minutes crafting a playlist for myself.

There's been much discussion amongst my friends the past few years about each of us compiling our own Top Ten songs to be played in the event of our death. (Selections are often hotly debated, but only after a bottle of bourbon hits the table, of course.) Having yet again been raised as a topic of conversation on Friday, I undertook the challenge and burned my own top ten. Surprisingly, it was harder to find 10 songs to list than 10 influential albums (there always seem to be too few songs and too many albums, but songs - as I'm sure most of you will agree - are really getting down to the nitty gritty.)

My list is below and may or may not contain a few surprises (depending on how well or how long you have known me,) is not at all maudlin, and makes for a good afternoon of painting. It's also a lot of fun to dance around to - I’d be happy to be invited to party that included this set list - except for being dead, of course!)

Much to the chagrin of my neighbours and the amusement of the construction workers on my patio, these are my chosen top ten songs in order of track sequence (I guess they'll just have to get used to it because I'll be playing it for most of the summer) --

I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got - Bettye LaVette (I’ve Got My Own Hell to Raise)

RC's Beliefs - Kingsway & Counterrevolutionaries (Brand New Golden Oldies)

Sweet Jane - Lou Reed (Berlin: Live at St. Ann's Warehouse)

Kiss Me Deadly - Generation X (Generation X remastered)

Bird on a Wire - Jennifer Warnes (Famous Blue Raincoat)

Hospital - The Modern Lovers (The Modern Lovers)

Gold Lion - Yeah Yeah Yeahs (Show Your Bones)

Gloria - Patti Smith (Horses)

Bad Reputation - Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (Bad Reputation)

A Little Rain - Tom Waits (Bone Machine)

Have you ever made a Top Ten (or even considered it, morbidity aside?) What would you choose that I forgot to consider?

New Last Meal Painting Finally on the Easel

I began roughing in Last Meal: Darrell Grayson this morning, but in truth the work itself actually began a few weeks ago. Unlike most of my pieces, which are typically composed and begun in a matter of hours or days, the paintings in the series of death row Last Meals take much longer (no pun intended) to execute.

To research and make a decision on which execution to highlight is difficult for me; while the impetus to select an innocence case is sometimes overwhelming, it is the grey areas within justice, society, redemption and punishment that I ultimately find more compelling. I haven’t met anyone that believed the execution of an innocent person was not a terrible injustice; however opinions vary as issues of race, legal representation, sanity, police misconduct, and evidentiary procedure are raised; and tempers flare as the nature and types of crime are revealed. It is within grey areas such as these that a society defines its humanity.

Preparing and consuming the inmate's last meal can be emotionally draining and some meals are simply more difficult than others. (Take for example, the 3 barbecue ribs from Cameron Todd Willingham’s last meal – executed for the arson deaths of his 3 children in a fire now widely believed accidental, each bone on the plate was both eerily symbolic and repulsive at the same time.) The excesses of some meals (James Colburn’s 6 tins of Coke come to mind) contrast with the simplicity of others (Tookie Williams’ oatmeal) while preparing, serving, and dining result in a host of conflicting emotions, as the complementary roles inmate/chef, guard/state/executioner, and condemned man converge. While I photograph the leftovers immediately following the meal, it is often several weeks before I gain sufficient distance to formalize the composition and actually begin painting.

Which brings us back to Last Meal: Darrell Grayson. Darrell Grayson was executed in Alabama in 2007 for the rape and murder of an elderly woman in 1982; while he freely admitted being capable of committing the crime, he had been drinking heavily and reportedly had no memory of that evening. While physical evidence was collected at the scene of the murder, the State of Alabama repeatedly refused requests to have a DNA test performed that would either confirm or deny his involvement. A black man with little income, he was represented at trial by a court-appointed divorce lawyer with no experience in capital cases and was convicted by an all white jury. His last meal consisted of a cheese omelette and sliced tomatoes.

To learn more about Darrell Grayson's case, visit the Innocence Project for news articles surrounding his execution.

Agree with me? Disagree with me? That's what comments are for!

Tags: art death penalty, death penalty art, Kate MacDonald, death row Last Meals, painting