Ignoring the Price Tag

The first painting that I ever made was done with car touch-up paint on my bedroom wall...yup, most laid-back parents ever. There was something so freeing about using cheap, left over supplies to create. Mess up big time? No big deal.

 Flash forward a couple of decades, and I am sort of tip-toeing around these gorgeous, seven-foot maple panels with my expensive paints and gold leaf, scared to make any move that I can't take back. Maybe if this weren't a commissioned project for a public space, or maybe if the supplies didn't cost as much as my car, I'd be slinging paint like a machine.  As it stands though, knowing that those enormous wooden pieces were cut and hauled all the way up to my studio just for this project has me shaking in my boots. So send your brave thoughts my way Friends, because this alter wall is not going to paint itself!

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Do you know what happens when you are an artist who happens to think that her spouse is one good looking dude?

Every single male figure that you paint or draw starts to look vaguely like him! 

I'm serious. This 'generic' angel that I sketched out in preparation for a large sanctuary wall that I am painting, could be my husband...or at least a relative of his...eesh.

Time to call in some models.

Seriously though, thank you to the friends who have let me cajole them into being angels. You guys are the best!

Surprise!

 Seeking inspiration for the church sanctuary wall that I will begin painting later this month, I headed down the the National Gallery of Art yesterday to check out the icons and fifteenth-century Italian paintings. Artists older and wiser than myself often stress the importance of recognizing that you are standing on the shoulders of those who came before you...even when you choose to buck the traditional trajectory. 

SO! I went to the gallery seeking a sense of history. What I walked away with was flat-out wonder at the really MODERN pattern and color combinations from this period! Don't get me wrong, this was not my first time seeing this work, but for some reason, I have always missed how truly brilliant they are. I mean, look at that coral next to that persimmon! How have I not noticed this before?

 Can I be honest with you, Friends? In the past, I may have unfairly thought of iconography and some older religious painting as historically rich, but visual dusty and well, a bit boring. I know, I am terrible. Will you forgive me? My eyes have been opened!

P.S.--Speaking of things that I was not expecting, I went to a chiropractor for the first time today. I'm sure if you were anywhere in a two mile radius you would have heard me scream when he popped my neck--surprised does not begin to explain my state of mind. SNAP, CRACK, BAM! Someone is standing two inches taller at her easel today. 

Have you ever been? What did you think?