little vistas

I commissioned my fantastic carpenter,

Ted Theime, to create 16 wooden 5 “ x 5” structures with rounded edges. My initial thought was to make these “happy” paintings and so I used a variety of bright colors and shapes which reminded me of summertime. When I completed this stage, they just seemed really unsatisfying and didn’t feel like they had much interest or depth. They were missing some sort of magic, just uninspired. So, I kept painting and repainting and then they became muddled and heavy. They now were transformed into something I disliked. So I pivoted again and decided to put on a mask and gloves and got my electric hand sander out. I began to take off the top layer of each painting, allowing some colored paint, drawn lines and staining to show through. I sanded them down to a smooth enough surface so that I could begin again. This time I took the approach of letting each piece speak for itself.  I had to listen to what it wanted or needed to be realized. I let go of my expectation of creating happy paintings to discovering these layered complex little vistas that each seem to incorporate and embody a whole range of emotion. Each one seems happy, sad, angry, excited, anxious, warring, calm, and loving.Their rounded edges are stained with gold and each piece now holds its own landscape and breadth of potential wanderings for the soul.