A Little Bit of Color

Today was a bit of a breakthrough. Fueled by my recent experiment with the Buddha Board, and with my newfound resolve, inspired by Pat Allen, to approach painting with an open mindset, giving voice to my inner aesthetic impulses with less restraint or concern about conformity or technique, I created my first painting that includes the use of color and a second (very fine) brush. I began painting orchid leaves and flowers in the traditional style I’ve been learning, but the painting soon took on a life of its own and became a bit more surreal, taking on the look of perhaps a mythical undersea landscape, with cool, gentle blues and greens complementing the blacks and grays. A sense of softly curving flow and wavelike, lateral undulation and sweeping upward movement pervades this painting. It seems to reach a place for me that captures some of the essences of both traditional Chinese painting and New York School abstract expressionism. It feels welcoming and nurturing to me, filled with innocence and hope.