Magnolia Morning ©

Magnolia Morning

Oil on canvas

16" x 20"



Two things about this painting made it a great learning experience for me: Its size and the fact that it is a portrait. Neither of which is characteristic of my work. When I first stood in front of the canvas ready to start, I felt as if I was standing on one foot, one hand tied behind my back. Awkward!! I'm used to swishing through the canvas with broad brushes, lots of room to swirl around thick strokes of paint. Not that I never use small brushes but those are for highlights, small details, I thought. Now I wasn't only painting small, I'm working on a portrait! Only twice attempted in the past and those were self portraits. Self portraits are less restricting again, I thought, but this is my daughter... the pressure's on. I'm definitely not a photo realist. I stepped back, took a deep breath and moved out of that restrictive space I had cornered myself. Stepped away from the easel and back into my "artist space." I didn't want to just paint a portrait, but rather capture all the elements coming to play that brief instant as I walked by her, which capture my attention and my imagination.

The beauty within

Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.
Kahlil Gibran

Milkweed is about that inner light Kahlil Gibran speaks about. It represents symbolically, the idea of those qualities we posses within, which ultimately define who we truly are as a human being. Inner beauty is often described as something that can't be physically observed, but rather it is understood by the heart. The day I held this weathered seed pod in my hand and it unexpectedly popped open, I understood the depth of the prophet's words.

When colors speak

Everyone who paints, at one time or another may reach a point where an image that was once crystal clear in his or her mind is now suddenly gone. Don't know where they go ... they just disappear, like lightning bugs at the end of August in Indiana. Normally when this happens to me, I set my canvas aside for a day or so, the image resurfaces in my mind and I go on to complete the painting. If it doesn't, all I ever heard to do was "forget it" salvage the canvas if you can and go on to something else.
Something about this painting was different. Something would not let me give up on it. The image was not lost, it was just beyond my reach. Just far enough to taunt me, but not near enough for me to grasp. The painting remained untouched in my studio for a while well, more like several years. Brought it home, propped it up against one wall, then another, upstairs, downstairs. Nothing. I finished several others in the interim and this one stayed behind, sadly still unfinished.
About a month ago, I don't know how or why, I happen to walk by it and in an instant, I knew exactly what was wrong and what I needed to do. I hadn't lost the image, it is much the same. I had lost my colors. The colors were silent. When in school, we were always warned not to "fall in love with our own paintings." This is of course so we could all grow up to be artists and artists, should be objective and open to "constructive criticism." Those were lovely days. I wouldn't say I'm "in love" with this painting though, and I always welcomed other artists' critiques of my work. I would say however, that I'm in awe of how much I've learned from this one small painting. Find your colors, those that speak to your heart, that move your spirit, and touch your soul and you will find yourself in the process ...and you will paint!

Images

Many thanks everyone for your comments. I really enjoyed hearing from you and appreciate your words of encouragement!
As to posting images of my paintings, sigh.. I've been trying to figure out the way to it so they can remain permanently. I can see this is going to be an adventure all in its own for this newbie blogger. I thought what I tried would work, but not exactly what I was wanting to do. I will keep tinkering with this until I figure it out and can then post more images to share with you.
In many ways, "Silenced" has been one of those paintings that hold a special meaning for me, so perhaps it is appropriate that it have it's own special space. I went ahead and left it as is for now and will post others as soon as possible.

2010: Forward and Onward!!

This artist took a side road on her work's journey leaving her easel at the fork. What can I say? I could name a thousand reasons why I did, but that is not important to this writing. What is important and exciting to me is to have found my way back to that place, where part of myself had remained waiting. Paint pallet clean, brushes standing at attention, turp, spatulas and mixing jars.. all that wonderful paraphernalia that fill our work space, now ready for the call. Forward and onward!! No distractions, no more interruptions on this artist's journey. Happy 2010 everyone!! I hope it is a most remarkable year for all.