Exuberance

This picture captures a wonderful moment.  I am going to paint it and call it "Exuberance".  Here's the funny part....why?  Because I like it.  Plain and simple.  Will it sell? Don't know.  Will it be liked?  Don't know.  Will anyone get it?  Don't know.  I don't know what people want when it comes to art, there is such a huge range of tastes.  Some people like modern, some like impressionism, some like realism, some like nature, some like geometric.  Who knows what it's all about when it comes down to it.  I keep it simple.  I paint what I like.  Just like I have a shop that I like.  Maybe someone else will like it too.  That's my business plan.  Not very glamorous, or very impressive but it works for me.  Will it work for the long haul remains to be seen.  But I don't want to over complicate things and get so bogged down with worrying about what's popular, or what sells that I loose track of the point.  What is the point you ask?  To create.  To create and put out my mark, my own expression of beauty, interest and joy.

This photo captures a joyous moment shared by my daughter and me last weekend.  We took off to our family cabin at Bass Lake just a mother daughter trip.  I am so grateful my 14 year old likes to go on these trips with me.  I have never been on a mother daughter trip with my own mother so it's sacred to me that Abby and I are so close.  On our way to the cabin we stopped at the thrift shops along the way (naturally) and this red tutu called our name.  I purchased the tutu and a sweet ole pitchfork for the studio and boy was I glad I did.  That night just as dawn was arriving we grabbed the camera and headed out for a photo shoot.  Tutu in hand we went to the beach and took amazing pictures.  The light was perfect and the tutu was a great prop.  The shot "exuberance" was our last picture of the joyous photo shoot and it captures the carefree essence that we felt perfectly.  I'm hopeful it will be a great painting.  This is how I get my art, from life, from single moments that can be frozen in time.  I love photography for the quick fix "mini painting' quality it offers.  Just 'click' and it's frozen, while painting the image is much more laborious.  That labor is a labor of love.  It's so exciting to put paint on a brush and watch it take shape on canvas.  It comes alive right before your very eyes.  I am not able to paint from my mind, I require an image and a scene to paint from.  I admire those who can freely paint from their imagination, it's a skill I don't possess at this juncture.  But perhaps it will develop in time, for now I'm content to snap images, take them to my studio and then transpose them onto canvas.  It's just so fun when it all comes together as I'm hoping it will on the red tutu.  If it does I shall post the finished piece.  If it's just something I love and it doesn't sell or interest anyone else I will put on my wall at home and smile.  It will always remind me of that magic day when we played merrily on the beach.  That is what art is for me.