Biting the Dust

This is the first piece I made in my ongoing series of monotypes Biting the Dust: The Euphemism Series. I began these prints about 20 years ago, when I was working in a residence for people with AIDS. I was awed by the courage and composure of the residents, and struck by the mystery of the process of dying. To the witness, it looks like a difficult and painful experience, but is it as it appears to be? Or is it, as Walt Whitman wrote "different from what anyone supposes."  I discovered that euphemisms for dying exist in many languages. I love the active quality of the verbs in such euphemisms as kicking the bucket, giving up the ghost and pushing up daisies and the vivid imagery they suggest.