Text, paintin' parties and whales...

I feel like I had a productive week with my ‘classroom studio’ experiment.  Friday before I left I placed my in-progress paintings on the storage shelf in the back of my classroom and was pleased to see that I was leaving three canvases, and knowing that those paintings will be waiting on my when I get back on Monday is exciting.  I am hoping to finish these next week and start some new work, maybe even a detailed drawing since my seventh and eighth graders are working on their drawing skills.

For these three paintings I am still working with the idea of the text creating the hair/headdress…this time focusing on the words ‘believe, sing, and light.’  I was brainstorming words/concepts that might mentally ‘weigh’ someone down, or that people might directly or indirectly fixate on….for the word ‘believe’ I was thinking about how sometimes it is hard to believe in yourself, or others, or to believe in something, to have faith…for ‘sing’ I was thinking about how people may be hesitant to share their gift with the world, specifically singing, or even someone like me that can’t necessarily sing but I do enjoy it, but when I think someone else will hear me I shut myself off….random…and the word ‘light’…my friend had shared a quote with me a while back that really stuck with me...I found the full version of the quote on-line, apparently repeated by many;

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.' We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? ....And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." (A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles", Harper Collins, 1992. From Chapter 7, Section 3).

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And then on to a pretty eventful weekend…I love having folks in my life that share my love for art.  I was fortunate enough to have a mini ‘paint party’ with my friend Jessica on Friday night (see pic on right).  A few hours of sitting around and painting while eating some snacks and watching ‘B’ movies?  Sign me up.  I worked on a few different projects, and much like my ‘skype painting session’ last weekend, it was nice to work with someone else instead of by myself.  Can't wait for the next one!

Below: three little canvases that I finished up on Friday night...destined to be baby shower gifts for my cousin Jen on Saturday.  I used her baby shower invitation and nursery theme as the basis for the design.  The triptych can be hung with space in between, lined up so that they are touching or even just stand since the little 4-inch canvases have some depth to them.  Can’t wait to see them displayed in the baby’s nursery!

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