There are blessed times when inspiration and creative follow-through run seamlessly in the studio, times when I am almost startled to suddenly realize, “Woah, I’m done.” I am grateful for these moments because (like life) studio time mostly involves starts and stops, making choices, making more choices, and dealing with quite a few do-overs.
These paintings, however, were a fast-placed blast, conceived quite by accident and without my notice, thousands of miles away from my studio. The story: While in a gift shop with my sister, Jean mentioned she’d been looking for a singing bowl. We found some, stacked in a multi-colored pyramid of hand-made boxes. We spent a very fun afternoon opening all the boxes and dinging all the bowls to find the tones we wanted for ourselves.
Here’s my first attempt from start to finish where I discover that ironing off the wax lifts off iridescent paint as well. On all of these paintings, I had to go back in and repaint areas (which was ok and now I know).
But this story is not about the bowl. I mention the bowl, and the miles away from the studio, and the not thinking about making art, to demonstrate how an innocuous moment can lead to a fun idea and all the good-feeling energy that follows - if you run with it.
My point? Ideas and inspiration are everywhere-all-the-time-available if we are open to them. And I don’t mean inspiration just for the studio; it works the same in the larger frame of life.
This is my second attempt with Jean in mind. The backgrounds look bluish because I photo’d them in early evening time.
But, back to my story, which technically is not about the bowl or the box, but the design on the box: A thousand-petaled lotus blossom to be exact. And that’s what got me going.
I wondered, “What would my thousand-petaled lotus blossom look like?” A few fun-filled hours later, I had it. What I appreciate is that this stayed fun. I wasn’t trying for anything. Like a kid, I just wanted to do it because it captured my interest. (Of course, so did using a ridiculously long screw I found in one of Dad’s garage boxes to draw a very large “L” for Logan on his newly refurbished garage door but that’s totally another story…)
By this third attempt, which I created for my brother Max, I was so excited and into the process that I forgot to photograph the stages! Interesting note: How I perceive Jean and Max shows up clearly in the paintings.
As you know, my word of the year is “wonder” and that kid-like theme led me to incorporating iridescent watercolors into my batik method. Those paints are a part of this story, too. One idea becomes the springboard for others - the great fun game of life.
Along the way, I was sidetracked by other springboard ideas and I’ll be showing you those next so stay tuned, friends!
With love and love,