A Challenge

I accepted the challenge, through a coworker, to complete a 5x5 canvas as a fundraiser for the Ozark Center for the Arts. The parameters were wide open with the only requirement being to keep it to 5x5. The art works will be hung at a gala event and then will be available for sale. You can see that I need more work on my photography skills, although in my defense this picture was taken on the fly by my daughter-in-law who was on her way out the door. My camera just wouldn't work and I was going to have to turn the project in the next day. And since I'm still a complete novice on manipulating photos in my computer, I just had to go with what I had in the interests of getting something posted on this blog.

I did not start with any idea in mind. Well, actually, I have a ton of ideas; I just can't seem to get them to gell into any kind of style. I broke out my unfamiliar acrylics and just started painting and wiping and adding and drying and gessoing and wiping some more until I ended up with something that spoke to me, however faintly. Then I experimented with the edge-of-a-credit card trick to add some line interest. I wanted to work with the wire mesh and try a little beeswax, too. The leaf was found in a book of stamps a friend gave me that she had collected when she was a young girl. It was probably pressed into the book in the late 50's and I was happy to spruce it up with a gold leafing pen and give it a new home. You can't go wrong with nature.

I do like the way it turned out and I think will appeal to a certain part of the population although it really seems uninspired to me. Perhaps I'm expecting too much of myself in this beginning stage of my artistic journey. I want all my wild ideas to come out fully formed still forgetting the advice of a piano teacher many (many, many!) years ago. She sensed my frustration at the keyboard because, while I was hearing every song I was playing with full orchestration and ruffles and flourishes, I did not have the expertise (nor as I've decided, the ability) to make my fingers generate the music I was hearing in my head. I had to accept the fact then that it would take many hours of practice to get to some real musicality. I shouldn't expect any more in this creative venue.

One step at a time....back to work.