“Spirit Bird” was not created so much from inspiration as from compulsion.
As I was drifting off to sleep a couple nights back, an image of colors came to mind: earth tones of greens, browns, and white, similar to some jasper stones I had been working with on a jewelry piece. It appealed to me, but hey–I was tired and in bed, so I naturally fell asleep. Life happened the following day, as it tends to, and I forgot all about it. That evening, however, after my son and husband were off to dreamland, I was exhausted, but itchy–itchy to paint, but not on either of the two paintings I have been working on. My vision from the previous night came to mind, and I knew I just had to do it. A compulsion. So I gathered all my stuff and spread out–not in my studio–but on the floor of the living room and began throwing greens, browns, and white on canvas. I glopped and smeared–with a palette knife and my hands–and drizzled and blotted, having no direction at all but to create a pleasing composition from these colors. And then the canvas revealed itself. A bird began forming in the myriad of layers and textures, and I knew. Sometimes my favorite paintings spring from no plan at all, no concrete design, they just happen from the energy that is present. Spirit Bird is one of those true “in the moment” paintings for me.
You can purchase a canvas reproduction, print, or card of Spirit Bird on Fine Art America.