Enter the mystery of a painting. What starts out as something in your minds vision changes completely into something from deep in your heart. It's an emotion that wells up and then comes out without notice.
Hiking on the Appalachian Trail, I was inspired by floating red leaves low to the ground. I tried to create the feel of leaves in the air in my painting but It was all coming out too stayed and "grounded". I decided it's time to take a break, one of the better things an artist can do when a painting can't turn a corner.
I was drawn to go back up to the mountains, not for research on this, rather for a day off. We planned to go shopping but when we got there, we were surprised the store was closed so we went to the vineyard instead. Not bad. :).
As we rode up to the vineyard my husband sped around the mountain curves and the autumn colors formed a blurred mosaic of amber shapes. At the vineyard the shapes appeared again, this time as amber grapevines dotting the landscape in swirls.
The next day I went into the studio ready to make adjustments in the direction I was going, but like that change of plans the day before from shopping to vineyard, I found myself reaching for large brushes and taking broad strokes to the work and changing it completely, freeing it completely. I had faith and kept going as I carved out a new work on the canvas. There was no thinking involved. I stood back, I felt a "heart message".
With the last brush stroke, the heart message whispered "Thankful”. I paused, yes, the work had gone from a vision of beautiful fall colors to the message from my heart of how thankful I am for all the beauty and love around us.
In this case I wanted to share this "surprise" as we approach the Thanksgiving holiday.
To see the painting that was inspired by this day "Autumn Hues" click here.