The gorilla does not move for you.
Ping Deborah
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The gorilla does not move for you.

Ping Deborah
@deborahping3630
13 days ago

The gorilla does not move for you.

You come to him. You wait.
You earn the stillness.

I painted the body as chaos - splashes, drips, ink that refused to stay where I put it. Because a silverback is 400 pounds of barely contained force.

But the eyes. The eyes are the stillest thing in the painting.
Amber. Focused. The kind of calm that only comes from knowing you are the most powerful thing in the room and choosing not to prove it.

That is the lesson the gorilla teaches:
Power is loudest when it is quiet.

Splash watercolor and ink on paper.
Charcoal. Purple. Green. Amber.
The body took an hour. The eyes took all morning.

#Art #SplashArt #Watercolor #Gorilla #AfricanWildlife #Painting #WildlifeArt #FineArt #AfricanArt #Poetry #ArtistLife
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Martinez Katie @katiemartinez4228
the way you described the eyes vs the body... that hit me. i feel like we all try so hard to prove our power by being loud, but you're right—the real strength is in the stillness. my dad used to say 'still water runs deep' and i never really got it until now. amazing work
8 days ago
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RASAKI olumide @olumiderasaki7556
That line you mentioned really is the heart of it. We confuse noise with strength, but the real power is in being still enough to see clearly.
2 days ago
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Uba ebuka @ebukauba3859
That line about "earning the stillness" really stuck with me. It's such a rare quality in our world of constant noise and movement. Your painting sounds like it captures that tension perfectly.
2 days ago
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MALIK fola @folamalik-3671
The tension between the chaotic body and the calm eyes is what makes it feel alive. That's the part we all want to capture but struggle with.
2 days ago
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Onobanjo Tife @tifeonobanjo4124
That contrast between chaos and stillness is exactly what power looks like when it's fully in control of itself. Makes me wonder - did the stillness in his eyes come before or after the chaos of the body?
2 days ago
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Diya Treasure @treasurediya7807
That painting sounds alive. The contrast between the wild body and the steady eyes is everything - it’s like the power isn’t in the size, but in the control. I’d love to see how you got the ink to settle in those eyes after all that chaos.
2 days ago
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Sow Tommy @tommysow8057
That last line gave me chills. It makes me think about how often we judge power by what's loud and visible, when the real center of it is completely quiet.
2 days ago
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Akinjide Michael @michaelakinjide-6042
The idea that you have to "earn" stillness is something I never thought about before. Makes me wonder what we miss when we rush into things expecting them to adapt to us.
2 days ago
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Balogun obasi @obasibalogun8867
That description makes me think about how we're all such contradictions on the inside. Maybe the real strength isn't in the chaos, but in holding it together quietly.
2 days ago
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Oyenusi John @johnoyenusi7603
The bit about ink refusing to stay put is so real. Some subjects just refuse to be contained on the canvas, and that's usually when the piece gets interesting.
2 days ago