Release

This is my latest empty coffee mug vision. After landing on a color, I couldn’t help but see the moon. This started off looking straight down into the mug, but it looked too straight forward. The obscured edges reminded me of looking past the silhouette of a tree’s branches, or more plainly, a shallow depth of field. Then I thought about how I am never looking at the moon straight on. It’s high up in space. We’re always looking up at it. So I tilted the image to play with that part of my brain that lends itself to illusions; not that I think this is one. As for its title, it feels very on-the-nose. The act of howling can mean longing or calling. I imagine the release of near-bottomless sadness, unrelenting pain, or even unanswered prayers. As this year wraps up howling feels like an appropriate thing to do.