Her Royal Grumpiness

As I write this post Princess Suzy Edwards sleeps on HER chair at home in the heart of London, UK. She is older, pitch black, and her small head rests on a body that has led her human slaves to call her Footwide instead of Suzy. According to the reports I got, this 'grumpy old cow' of a cat has attitude. She wil always demand instead of ask, refuse on principle, and requires immediate service from her adoring subjects. She barely dained to have her photo taken, even after being told she was to have her portrait painted. I wanted to capture the wild side of her, and that omnipresent attitude,and maybe, just maybe, hint at the loving purr underneath that is the reason her humans dote on her so.

Experiencing

Every time I experiment with something in art I find I learn. The project may be a dismal failure, but the process NEVER is. For this reason I enjoy challenging my students to tackle something alien to their styles. In the past few months I had them lay down an under-painting of colors the exact opposite on the color wheel of the intended color. The groans and protests were not hidden, but with much prodding they produced a simple tree and lawn scene that had a new depth that they had never tried. As they began to see the way the contrasting color bought a new life to this traditional design they got excited, and from this experiment, they gained knowledge.

Motivation

It seems all to easy to let your art taken a back seat to the mundane tasks that are necessary but not creative. I have been guilty of that, and needed a nudge from two directions to find my way back to creating and sharing my art. The first was an accidental placing of two similar paintings next to each other. I had done the first two years ago, and could remember how pleased with it I had been at the time. Having it next to the more recent work let me see the evolution of style and increase in knowledge. It was a reminder of how growth comes through effort as well as passion.

The second incident was a strong nudge to not only get painting again, but to return to this blog and share the thoughts and motivations that lead me to paint. (waving to Si. )

So, dear blog readers, I have returned from my silence.