Salt Water Soft, 20x16in, mixed media on board
I’m not a person that smells the salt air and immediately relaxes. I’m a bit of a wimp in the OBX undertow (understatement) & I can get bored sitting at the beach and reading for extended periods. I do love how I reconnect with family and how everyone leaves most of their worries back home. That is the best part for me—the chance to laugh (play Cards Against Humanity), watch uncensored bad family dancing, have wine & cheese with our friends watching sunset & refill my spiritual cup.
So this year, I decided to test new waters (pun intended?)—I figured out how to bring my paints along for the ride. Since I paint on fairly large canvases, I thought this impossible—small canvases just feel so confining, but I caved and brought two small boards with me and a limited supply of papers, paints, brushes and little bits of my collage materials. The limits on size and materials made all the difference.
I started out slow with some pretty uninspired work and then about day 3 I said wtf, wouldn’t it be fun to just collage the hell out of the boards and see what happens? I did & what a pleasure. It astounded me that the letting go—the play-- was just what I needed and out came “Salt Water Soft “ and “Being There.”
So this year, I decided to test new waters (pun intended?)—I figured out how to bring my paints along for the ride. Since I paint on fairly large canvases, I thought this impossible—small canvases just feel so confining, but I caved and brought two small boards with me and a limited supply of papers, paints, brushes and little bits of my collage materials. The limits on size and materials made all the difference.
I started out slow with some pretty uninspired work and then about day 3 I said wtf, wouldn’t it be fun to just collage the hell out of the boards and see what happens? I did & what a pleasure. It astounded me that the letting go—the play-- was just what I needed and out came “Salt Water Soft “ and “Being There.”
Being There, 24x18 in, mixed media on board
I let myself play with these small pieces in ways I had not in forever. My normally large canvases can feel vast and a bit overwhelming to let my “crazy” just flow. So getting away from the rigidity—the routine—allowing the Salt Water to Soften …me—brought renewed creative energy my way. What a simple idea and yet I had overlooked the importance of mixing it up and playing as a way to bring something new to my work (& my life).
Salt Water Soft is about this exact journey—softening/surrendering to what this new OBX sanctuary brought to me.
Being There references Peter Sellers’ 1979 classic movie (a must watch) whose dull character, Chance, is attributed with great wisdom and insight—people seeing him as they wish him to be—and this piece is my own version of this story…
So I am at the end of my 2015 OBX vacation and yet I brought much back with me as I reinvent my art and find more time to play as I paint.
PLAY PLAY PLAY—my mantra today. Wishing for you lots of play, softness, recess, opening, bending, stretching, doing things that seem impossible, reaching beyond and bringing back some beauty with you. Namaste.
Salt Water Soft is about this exact journey—softening/surrendering to what this new OBX sanctuary brought to me.
Being There references Peter Sellers’ 1979 classic movie (a must watch) whose dull character, Chance, is attributed with great wisdom and insight—people seeing him as they wish him to be—and this piece is my own version of this story…
So I am at the end of my 2015 OBX vacation and yet I brought much back with me as I reinvent my art and find more time to play as I paint.
PLAY PLAY PLAY—my mantra today. Wishing for you lots of play, softness, recess, opening, bending, stretching, doing things that seem impossible, reaching beyond and bringing back some beauty with you. Namaste.
