Tuesday Art Salon

"Spring Arrived Gently and Hushed" mixed media on cradled board, 12" x 12".  Ready for hanging.

Spring?  Seriously?  In the world of artists, we work a bit ahead.  Shows have themes, and the themes may be months ahead of reality.  Think of it like swimsuits in January...wait!  We have those here!  And this challenge was incredibly difficult for me - until it wasn't.  

This piece was created entirely without brushes.  Mostly paper towels and scrapers. Acrylic and ink background, rubbed and burnished and scraped and splattered.  Such a serious background.  I wanted just a little hint of precious color; a fragile bloom in an otherwise bleak field.  The kind of bloom you find on a hike in March in the Carolinas.  A bloom that says "Hey you!  Winter won't last forever.  Hang in there."  But nothing I auditioned for the part of the bloom was just right.

So then I went to an encaustics demo.  My first ever.  And we were invited to play in the waxy loveliness on artist trading cards.  And *****poof****!  Magically, precious blooms appeared wherever I swirled the wax.  I could hardly wait to get home and try them out.  And like Goldilocks, I found the third bowl of porridge to be just right.

It still surprises me when art imitates life.  This piece, its process and the final moment of completion, were just like spring!  It seemed far away for a long, long time.  And then, like magic, it was there.  No fanfare, no hoopla, just a hushed arrival in the sweetest of ways.