Making art--even if it's crap--is fun. When Tuna and I went up to Vermont a few weeks ago, I made sure that we set aside a few hours for painting. Tuna, a talented but in my opinion, seriously egregiously lapsed artist who doesn't make time for it in his life anymore, knocked out his first-ever beautiful watercolor of a wonderful Autumn still life. We assembled it together on the back steps using most of the things we picked up from that morning's trip to Hazendale Farm. It consisted of a large, tall pumpkin, a ceramic pitcher and a bunch of multi-colored gourds crammed next to it. As beautiful as Squash Town was, I was more drawn to the two ancient wooden storage sheds which line our side yard, Doodle's favorite places to hide. I've been studying the way the light and the seasons change around them for years with my camera. Since I lost the camera, I figured it was time to challenge myself and interpret the shapes in another medium. So after lunch, we set up our studio on the October Sun-drenched back porch with the house's assortment of random art supplies and shoddy brushes, a bottle of wine, 1950's Italian love ballads on the Bose, and I too painted a couple water colors--one traditional, the other very abstract-- and another somewhere in between with oil pastels. A triptych, if you will.
None are them are particularly strong on their own, but they look nice together (especially if you stand on the other side of the room. And squint. And jump up and down with your pants down) and more importantly, it was fun making them. Painting can be frustrating if you're too concerned with your picture being perfect, but the process can be very relaxing if you let go. It's a very special way to spend time with someone. And instead of a photograph I'd most likely save on a hard drive, never to be printed, I have 3 pictures instantly in my hands, made by my own hands, with which to remember that lovely afternoon with Tuna. Let's hope he thinks that helping me paint my apartment is just as fun. Come on! Tell him I have a case of wine.
Obvs, I'm in love with this blog, Painting Each Day. Ann Elizabeth Schlegel's little paintings are fabulous, affordable, and daily, like she says. I'm loving this lemon! Nothing sour about a piece of original art for $100.
ORIGINAL OIL PAINTINGS - PAINTED EACH DAY - BY ARTIST ANN ELIZABETH SCHLEGEL
1 comment:
And with one magic wand of a wave, a picture was taken and a painter born.
Hello! Hooray! Let the show begin.
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