Considering Outside the Bowl

Outside the Bowl

Outside the Bowl

12" x 12" 

Gallery wrap - Acrylic Painting

2013

sold

I found myself contemplating as I am likely to do since COVID has hit us.  It has made us reevaluate life in a whole new way.  Our purpose, meaning for being on this planet and even in this particular time in history. The meaning of life.  It stopped us cold and slowed us down...to a crawl in some cases.

The crawl happened to me in 2015 when I dropped suddenly, almost completely passed out for no reason, and ended up in the hospital getting a pacemaker to keep the old ticker going.  I am grateful for modern technology for sure since it is a little device and I had pictured this big thing in a harness stuck on the outside of my body for the rest of my life! And I got a bit sidetracked with some severe congestive heart failure that abruptly stopped my art-making.  And I have not been able to get back on track.  It's like a piece of me is missing.

Good Lord, I have tried to get it back! Praying, declaring, clearing my chakras LOL! I still watch art videos to learn, and I have indeed learned a whole bunch but as far as my mojo... it's not been back.

I recall having too many ideas to fit into a lifetime all the way down to I can't think straight enough to want to draw a line.  I  picked up the hobby of paint-by-number of all things!  And also preprinted cross-stitch.  I used to cross-stitch on fine linen, impossibly small threads.  I loved it!  Not now.

Tonight I found myself watching an art video and the teacher was asking us to think about what we wanted to convey in the painting we were to work on.  I naturally did this without thought.  I never really thought too hard about my paintings.  I got excited about something and painted it.  Now I see I had needed to settle down and convey to you what I was excited about because perhaps you did not see and needed a  bit of hand-holding!

I present to you my all-time favorite painting, Outside of the Bowl.

Why my favorite?  Blue and green are my favorite colors although sometimes it's hard to pin down just exactly what my favorite colors are so I resorted to my clothes closet.  Hands down, blue for sure with many hints of green and magenta for some spice... and a bit of orange... and... SEE!  It's hard! But in this painting, the colors made my heart sing, especially the green-yellow of the Granny Smith.  I love that touch of over-ripeness peeking with the muted red.  I love to work with complementary color schemes. The colors are luscious and the web is unable to even come close to reality.

That day my brush was doing all the right things.  I have a favorite tattered brush.  I love to see the sweep and texture of the brush hairs.

I bought the bowl from T J Maxx.  It is from Denmark.  I have a series of them.  Beautiful lines, simple, white, reflective.  I was so happy to have that apple reflection!  And the hint of the reflection on the surface it is sitting on.  I take my own still life photos and it's a learning curve finding out that good photos don't necessarily make good paintings!

I like the lost and found lines in the painting.  The apple coming out from hiding, since she escaped the bowl.  Blending into the background for extra drama.

I remember being carefree and joyful painting this.  It did not come hard, it came easy.  And I think people can tell the vibe in a painting and know the joy, feel the joy.  In the short time, I was painting regularly and selling, I could see people could tell by what was sold.  Our frequency is transferred to what we paint!

I remember not being concerned a whit with the flick of the white highlights.  A place that can go oh so very wrong. I was pleased with the placement right off the bat.

Yes, I remember what I was thinking and the process of some paintings and I hope I will keep up with blogging some of my thoughts regarding my favorites.