What Love Is is a piece rendered in scratchboard. This portrait of a woman in love was created right after finalizing my series To the Beat of a Distant Drums. The objective was to pull elements from that series into new work, and to see if it was possible to utilize the language already existing there to create a clear message.

The moons used in Lovebringer are present here, wrapping around the woman’s head, indicating a head full of love, or at least preoccupied with thoughts regarding love. As established in Lovebringer, love is a double-edged sword, and thus she may be having happy thoughts, or just the opposite. This dilemma is made clear, however, when we notice the candle resting on top of the figure. This candle is one of the candles that appear in Sadnessmonger. The use of this item makes it clear that she may be suffering from a broken heart.

The rest of her garments are put together to suggest a ceremonial head-dress, which is a tribute to the finalized series of woodcut prints, and which also suggests a continuation of worshiping human emotion.