Raving

Description

Raving
23” x 17” graphite on paper, signed Pamela Watson (2020)

Raving marks the beginning of Pamela Watson’s journey into using drawing as a form of meditative prayer. Created in March 2020, this piece emerged during a time of personal reckoning and national crisis.

On the day her estranged father died, Pamela was at work and unaware of his passing—but she and a coworker both noticed an unusual number of crows gathering throughout the city. This wasn’t the first time corvids—crows and ravens—had appeared around her in significant moments. Their persistent presence in Colorado and Indiana had long carried a sense of symbolism, mystery, and message.

Just days later, Pamela entered COVID-19 quarantine on the day of his funeral. Isolated and unwell, she turned to graphite—her medium of choice from high school days—after being unable to access her usual painting supplies. The act of drawing Raving became a way to process complex emotions, reclaim personal power, and make sense of a world unraveling in chaos and loss.

Rendered in delicate layers of graphite, Raving is not about mourning, but about witnessing. It’s a prayer for clarity, resilience, and transformation—both personal and collective.