A question we never want to have to answer, whether put to us by friend, family member or random changing room person: “Does this outfit make me look fat?” Even if the truthful answer is “yes”, none of us actually want to say that.
But a friend's comment on one of my recent Instagram posts made me wonder:
Does this painting make me look joyful?
I had posted a series of photos as I worked on, and completed, an abstract painting. And my friend Richard wrote: “You look like you are having the time of your life!”
“Am I?” I wondered.
Certainly the usual worries and cares of a woman with a family and a mortgage still float around me.
But still -- “the time of my life”?
Certainly while I was working, I was wholly focused on creating, on making marks, placing bold strokes of color, maintaining a sense of the luminous while allowing the weight of the opaque shapes to press in. In that act of creating, yes, absolutely--
I was having the time of my life.
And so the question again: “Does this painting make me look joyful?” I hope the answer is “yes”--because that is the truth.
This is how the painting began--some watercolor crayons, some collaged tissue I had previously painted with watercolor. Wanting the luminosity of the watercolors as foundation.
Moving along, I sprayed the watercolor crayons and let the drips form interesting shapes, added acrylics and areas of graphite.
The opaque, muted blue is helping to define my composition more; it pushes on the transparent passages, creating a level of tension.
The final painting: "Between a Rock and a Hard Place". The blue continues to contain the light, holding it in. Are the yellow stripes at the bottom a ladder in or an escape route out?