And, then it is done. Oh, I can and do talk about finished pieces-ponder what they might mean to me weeks or even months after they are completed, but for the real excitement-it doesn't happen when I "show" my pieces, sell them, or hang them in a gallery.
The real excitement happens when I'm in the middle of it and I've laid the first color down.
And I'm starting to anticipate where this might be going... One thing I have learned is that if I talk about a piece or a concept I'm pondering too much before it appears on the canvas-it is likely that the piece may never appear-something of the "ummph" (now there is a professional term!) fizzles- part of the desire to "birth the new" gets soft.
And...nobody really gets to see this part of the process-this is you and the canvas, you and your thoughts and the spirit flowing through you. This is the part that has taken me a long time to really embrace-to really cherish what happens in the quiet as it all merges and begins to appear and flow and move into places that I couldn't have planned or sketched before it happened.
Sometimes I have no idea what images will emerge when I start painting, but with this piece I had a starting point. I knew there were these bright passionate flowers, sturdy trees and a garden wall protecting it all-but a purple wall-really it had to be purple?
I have just a small section to go so I'm not wrapping any more words around this right now. It is time to be quiet and finish the work-and to look forward to sunshine and relief from the storms outside my windows.
