Round Two (or more)

Creative types can be brimming over with ideas…so many that they don’t know which to choose next. Or…they can run dry. Hit a brick wall. Throw up their hands in despair over their inability to come up with even one inspiring idea. We’ve all been there – in both scenarios.  Sometimes, we are so enamored of our creation that we just must do it again, and again. I’m not talking about a series, which is a group of individual works with the same theme. I mean a do-over of something we’ve already created. Perhaps you didn’t care for the way it turned out the first time and you want to get it right this time, or maybe you just can’t get it out of your mind, and you want to see where else you can take it. Or it can take you.

Whether you are an artist, a photographer, a writer, a musician or a craftsman, there is a lure in revisiting, revising, renewing. This has been the case for me on more than one occasion. For instance, an early work of mine was based on a dream I had at a time in my life when I was pondering my life and choices I had made – one of which was to become a painter.  In that dream, I flew – high in the air with my arms outstretched, soaring happily, high above. Below me were areas of chaos and confusion that transitioned to areas that felt peaceful and embodied with clarity. I awoke feeling hopeful, happy, and inspired.  I knew I had to somehow convey all of this on canvas. I was painting exclusively in oils back then and experimenting with colored pencil strokes in my oil paintings. I frequently incorporated circular shapes in my works, sometimes just for their form but also because they are powerful symbols.  Inspired by my dream, I created a 24” x 30” mixed media work on canvas, incorporating oil, colored pencil and circles created with gesso/modeling paste relief. The circular shapes, some intact, some broken, as well as the colors I used, served as metaphors for transitions in my thinking and in my growth as both an artist and a human being. I named this piece “Thoughts in Transition / I Dreamed I Was A Bird”.

The original - “Thoughts in Transition / I Dreamed I Was A Bird” 30” x 24” oil & colored pencil on canvas

This painting (and the dream it was based on) marked a turning point in my artistic direction, sending me off into the realms of abstract painting and helping me find pure abandon where color and form is concerned.  This facilitated my innate intuitive nature which I turned to more and more while painting.  It was my first real abstract artwork, and it was validated (in my eyes) by acceptance in two national juried art exhibitions soon after.

I soon began to paint with acrylics on a large scale, preferring 4’ by 4’ Masonite panels to work on. I found myself thinking again and again about doing a larger version of the painting from my dream. This time some of the circles took a more organic form. The colors were completely different. A square format replaced the rectangular shape of the original canvas. Always in the experimenting mode, I embedded pieces of copper wire screen into the paint. I guess you could say that this painting was inspired by the painting that was inspired by the dream…and so it goes.  I rendered it once more many years later in a smaller form. That dream and those paintings are once more on my mind, and I fully anticipate revisiting that inspiration again soon.

“Thoughts in Transition / I Dreamed I Was a Bird II” 4’ x 4’ Acrylic & copper wire screen on board panel

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