Accidental Artist
It is only when we are no longer fearful that we begin to create.― J. M. W. Turner
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How I found white!
After the first trial of the murder of our daughter when I had no words left, I resorted to surfing the Pinterest website where I found comfort in choosing pictures. For me the site became a luxurious, bottomless picture book of eye candy that I could devour. I just started pinning my boards with colorful pictures that appealed to me. And then I started a “white board.” I soon found that I would indiscriminately collect all kinds of beautiful pictures of every color and then, at the end of the day, I would invariably edit out the color and preserve only the white photographs. My love for white, I think began in the early ‘90s when I attended a conference in the Maritimes. I was billeted in an old house, a typical Maritime house that was decorated with ageless antique furniture but the walls had been painted in whites – a lovely cream and pure snow white. Around that time we moved into a house on Hazel Dell badly in need of renovations. I searched at great length for those same shades of white and started to apply them to my own home and the other houses we were renovating. But eventually, collecting white pictures on Pinterest and pinning them to imaginary boards wasn’t quite as satisfying. I longed to go back to painting houses and immersing myself in white, except I didn’t have the time, energy or inclination to paint houses again. I wanted something small, accessible, quick, and practical. I wondered if I dared to paint on canvases. Besides, I had some walls downstairs that remained pictureless because I couldn’t find paintings that I truly liked. Most of them had were too colorful! Dare I paint my own? How hard is it to paint white? When the idea first entered into my imagination, I discarded it immediately. I am surrounded by talented artists. They did beautiful art. They were all truly accomplished. -(continued at page end) |
WhimsiesThen I indulged in clay. Wanting to spend time with my husband in his studio, I would play with clay. I just kept pinching it. Then I kind of liked the craziness of my design. To give them meaning, I inscribe each candy or rock holder with the silent plea..."love me."
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White on WhiteThen we traveled to Frankfurt to visit a family friend and he took us to see the famous artist, Piero Manzoni. Can you imagine a whole gallery room filled with massive paintings of white? I thought I had gone to heaven.
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Abstract ExpressionismEvery once in awhile, I want to conquer color. At one time I played with Alcohol Ink Art but it just wasn't as fulfilling for me. Here is one painting where I combined my love of white paint, Bible pages and stroked it with Ink.
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(Continued)
One day as I was shopping for some odd things at the Dollar Store, I noticed four tiny paintings for $2.00. I didn’t like the paintings, but they were canvases. Perhaps I could experiment? There was nothing wrong with trying. I bought four, totaling $8.00, and three cans of paint – sensitive white, snow white and a kind of taupe and took great delight in painting over the pictures, turning them into white. I still have those first painting. They are still my favorite.
But I was literally trembling when I painted those first tiny works of art. I felt as if I was trespassing onto the territory of the skilled, talented, and amazing artists in my family who were not only producing good art but had the opportunity to show it in galleries.
When I had completed my first, nothing prepared me for the satisfaction and joy of covering a tiny, little canvas entirely with white paint embedded with meaningful words. I hung my quartet of first paintings on the wall. I still look at them with a deep-seated pleasure and happiness. They give me something indescribable.
Why white? White is powerful and dominant, yet it blends with other colors. It contains an equal balance of all the colors of the spectrum, having the strength to hold diversity and tensions within itself, implying fairness and justice. It remains inclusive and adaptive. One could say it remains egoless in a state of a powerful self-awareness.
It is a color that promises new beginnings. It offers an inner cleansing and purifying of thought, emotion spirit and ultimately ones soul, refreshing as if strengthening one’s entire being.
Hopefully, my paintings so innocently white, glow with the longing for the divine, invitational, watching and waiting patiently – always ready.
To give them meaning for myself, I began folding into the white paint pages of scripture, the book I hold dear. It is the story of God and of man, historically, poetically and spiritually with painful accuracy and daring. Its words seem to change the meaning of the painting, remaining incomprehensible but still ringing with truth.
Eventually my family asked me to join one of their art shows. At my very first art show, I received a commission to do more.
This is how I became an accidental artist…..
One day as I was shopping for some odd things at the Dollar Store, I noticed four tiny paintings for $2.00. I didn’t like the paintings, but they were canvases. Perhaps I could experiment? There was nothing wrong with trying. I bought four, totaling $8.00, and three cans of paint – sensitive white, snow white and a kind of taupe and took great delight in painting over the pictures, turning them into white. I still have those first painting. They are still my favorite.
But I was literally trembling when I painted those first tiny works of art. I felt as if I was trespassing onto the territory of the skilled, talented, and amazing artists in my family who were not only producing good art but had the opportunity to show it in galleries.
When I had completed my first, nothing prepared me for the satisfaction and joy of covering a tiny, little canvas entirely with white paint embedded with meaningful words. I hung my quartet of first paintings on the wall. I still look at them with a deep-seated pleasure and happiness. They give me something indescribable.
Why white? White is powerful and dominant, yet it blends with other colors. It contains an equal balance of all the colors of the spectrum, having the strength to hold diversity and tensions within itself, implying fairness and justice. It remains inclusive and adaptive. One could say it remains egoless in a state of a powerful self-awareness.
It is a color that promises new beginnings. It offers an inner cleansing and purifying of thought, emotion spirit and ultimately ones soul, refreshing as if strengthening one’s entire being.
Hopefully, my paintings so innocently white, glow with the longing for the divine, invitational, watching and waiting patiently – always ready.
To give them meaning for myself, I began folding into the white paint pages of scripture, the book I hold dear. It is the story of God and of man, historically, poetically and spiritually with painful accuracy and daring. Its words seem to change the meaning of the painting, remaining incomprehensible but still ringing with truth.
Eventually my family asked me to join one of their art shows. At my very first art show, I received a commission to do more.
This is how I became an accidental artist…..
Life is sometimes hard. Things go wrong, in life and in love and in business and in friendship and in health and in all other ways that life can go wrong. And when things get tough, this is what you should do. Make art. ― Neil Gaiman
