So, I painted yesterday. And rather than start something new, I worked on two paintings I had started earlier. One, just recently and only needed to add a few more layers (you can never have too many layers, ya know...).
This is the nearly final version (I tweaked it just a bit after I took the picture - mainly toning down the white script with a little quinacridone gold and quinacridone magenta. Yummmmmm....). I'll post a final good picture of it in my gallery once it's ready for sale.
The other painting was one I've tried to paint on (frustratingly) four (yes, FOUR!) times before. The first time I got stalled and it was a point where it was too raw (Picture #1). The second time I thought I'd change the color scheme and maybe that would help (Picture #2). The third time I painted over a bunch of it, thinking that would help... (Picture #3). And then 4th go-around I randomly added papers and paint... and then didn't know where to go with it (sorry, by that time it wasn't worth it to take a pic and I just put it away. Disgusted and doubting my ability.).
Picture #1.
Picture #2.
Picture #3
But something interesting happened this past weekend. I had been in a funk. Like depressed but not so much sad & hopeless as I was just .... dark.... apathetic... why bother... blahhhhh..... wahhhhhhh..... Silly, but it hung on for 2 days. Enough time that even the hubs was a bit concerned. And then Sat. night (the end of the 2nd day of that nonsense!) it hit me... paint out of the darkness. Or even PAINT THE DARKNESS! I couldn't wait to get started the next day. The first thing I did was slap a bunch of black paint over a large portion of the canvas. Woohoo! It felt gooo-ud (pronounced like Morgan Freeman pronounced it in "Bucket List"). And then I had to have pink! And stencils. And red. And quinacridone red. And yellow. And spray paints (oooooh, spray paints are just nearly as much fun as hand-painting! but stinkier....). And somehow... SOMEHOW... the picture below evolved.
Titled "Even in the darkness her wishes were in color"
20x20
20x20
There was one stop before this one, where I asked for advice. There wasn't quite as much black as there is here... and not quite as many layers of stencil letters... I ended up following my own urge and adding more black and more letters (my one concession to the advice was to add in a tiny bit of green to off-set the pink - but you barely notice it so I'm not sure I got that part right...). And you know what? It's done. No more re-inventions of itself, it tells the story it was meant to. It's time to let go...
I don't know if anyone will relate to it or not, but it showed me a lot of things. Nothing is simple - especially if it's worthwhile. Life is built in layers, and each one has its purpose and meaning. And no matter how down I get or tired or apathetic... I seem to have an inherent spark of hope... of things I might wish for... and that hope is colored hot pink.
WHO KNEW??? !!!
I don't know if anyone will relate to it or not, but it showed me a lot of things. Nothing is simple - especially if it's worthwhile. Life is built in layers, and each one has its purpose and meaning. And no matter how down I get or tired or apathetic... I seem to have an inherent spark of hope... of things I might wish for... and that hope is colored hot pink.
WHO KNEW??? !!!