I'm beginning to get my pieces ready for my art show. It's going to be a lot of work, but I can already see how it's going to be helpful for me. By re-visiting each piece, I am re-living the feelings and emotions I had when I created it, plus I can see it through new eyes now. This canvas is titled "Washing Down." I painted it on a solitary retreat to Christ in the Wilderness, which is in Stockton, IL. The heart radiates with various layers because of God's love washing down over it. It was a feeling of complete peace and well-being, of One-ness.
After writing a little blurb about it, I will wrap it up and pack it. Then on to the next one!
The other photo is of a book I purchased today at Barnes & Noble, "Mixed Media Self-Portraits," by Cate Coulacos Prato. I've been drawn lately to the idea of doing self-portraits. In the past, I have thought of self-portraits as being slightly narcisistic, but I've come to understand how powerful they can be. From the book: "The first stab at self-portraiture can cut incredibly deeply. It takes no small amount of courage to seek inside the soul..."
I'm beginning to think that this stage of self-portraiture will open the door to a whole new level of art. Which is one of the reasons for this show: to organize, evaluate, summarize what I have already done, in order to clear mental space for the next stage--whatever that may be.
Sometimes you just have to be impulsive. This framed piece, which sits atop our new headboard (which Phil & I designed and created) in our bedroom, is such an example. I had painted a canvas with the turquoise blue and purply color that are accent colors in our room. The canvas was slightly textured, and I just wanted to get the colors on there. After playing around with the colors and a spray bottle of water, I felt the colors were fine, but it lacked a focal point.
So I spotted a bottle of shiny black paint on my art table, impulsively flipped open the lid, and with 2 sweeping motions, poured the paint across the canvas. The smudge on the right was an accidental drip, but I like it. As the black paint dried, it blended in a bit because of the water on the canvas, and looked a bit softer. This piece just wouldn't work without that black! As I'm looking at it here, the words "Swept Away" came to mind. The piece itself has a movement of its own, plus the fact that I was swept away by impulsively pouring that black paint. Perfect name.
Oh, and the Number Two piece beside it, I just found today at Home Goods on clearance for $5. It was a distressed cream color, but I spraypainted it shiny silver. And the frame for my canvas, was one I found on clearance several months ago at Hobby Lobby: $4.20. Art on the cheap. I love it!
