Though I often paint animals they are usually commission pieces - mostly dogs. I love dogs but once we had a rabbit named "Buttercup." This rabbit is out of my imagination and the design behind it is an abstract of a piece of scarf pattern. Sometimes these things just spill out of your brain and you have to go with it. This one is all brush work and I even broke out the fussy little liner brush for the background. Why? Who knows?
I named it She's mesmerized because she kind of has that deer in the headlights look.
I'm a little obsessed with Lillies or maybe it's just white flowers in general. I painted one just like this a while back only with a little cooler color. Flowers are just so beautiful but never worry about how they look - wouldn't that be so refreshing if humans were like that? But I guess it's this burden of brain that keeps us from being like the flowers!
There's still something so pure and heartfelt and emotional and genuine about a bouquet of flowers that, even with all the advances of technology and the millions of ways we have to communicate with each other, flowers are still relevant in my opinion. Vanessa Diffenbaugh
The
rose is a rose from the time it is a seed to the time it dies. Within it, at all
times, it contains its whole potential. It seems to be constantly in the
process of change: Yet at each state, at each moment, it is perfectly all right
as it is.Paulo
Coelho
A few years ago I was taking a workshop and there were individuals in it that were clearly more adept at painting than others. I ate lunch with a young lady who appeared to be so accepting of where she was in her career even though it seemed to me that she was at the beginning. I expressed my feelings of intimidation at the excellence of others in the class and how I had almost not signed up knowing this in advance. What she said next has always stuck with me; "I just look at it this way. I can't be anymore than I am right now. At this stage in my life my experiences have brought me to this point and no farther. I have a destination but can't get there without skipping any steps or wishing my life away to get there any faster."
I look at so much fabulous art and feel, wow, I should be farther along than I am at my age. But then, what's the point in thinking this way. A few years ago I made this my motto but slip away from it every once in a while. "Love yourself because you can't be somebody else!"
Anyway, the quote of the day reminded me of that conversation years ago.
Sometimes I do a painting that I really like and I've found it's the ones that harmonize like a beautiful song or poetry. I feel that way about this piece. It can be hard to create exciting movement on a static piece. Sometimes they fly off the spatula and sometimes they don't.
I just kept thinking Crate and Barrel and came up with Cup & Crock. It could happen, a store that only sells cups and crocks. I did a couple of paintings with my spatula from this set up. I love pottery! Never knew I had this in common with Mark Twain.
