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Thursday, October 1, 2009

Step One: Tone Canvas the Color of Teacher’s New Sneakers

Wipe Out
12x12, oil on [pink!] canvas

A cosmic question directed to creatives: what “tricks” do you use to clear artistic hurdles? Thank the dear Lord for girl friends, teachers, and new shoes - that's all I'm saying.

Art class this week was a “wipe out” for me. Meaning, I just couldn’t get the composition onto the canvas; I would draw, then wipe out, draw - wipe out. Over and over. The still life set-up was lovely – an eggplant with a fetching stem, a few curly squash, a pretty blue plate. Yet even with my trusty viewfinder, moving the tableau up, down, left, right - there was no success. Naturally, the more I tried, the more daunted I became. As luck would have it, I had planned an early lunch right after class with two of my twisted sisters. And, proving what a small town Austin really is, two more appeared at the table next to us. Serendipity. And so, surrounded by BFFs, my bruised self-esteem was soothed and my resolve strengthened. (i.e. dog/bone)

I will tame this blasted composition, I determined. My favorite part of art class this week? Laurel’s new lipstick-pink Converse All-Star sneakers, definitely. Ahhhh, a virtual panacea. Inspiration: check.

2 comments:

Patricia Siegel said...

I am so sorry I missed Laurel's lipstick pink Converse All-Star sneakers!

Laurel Daniel said...

Just scanning through all your recent work... great stuff, all. But THIS one made me stop and smile!!!!!! Love those new shoes and love the final outcome of your failure-turned-major-success! Sometimes we just have to wrestle these things to the ground...