Vignettes

Pick one at random, then write about it. Into the bag of photos of paintings goes my hand...

Yes!  I love this one.

So much so that I have painted it numerous times, in different sizes.  All sold but one, this original large one. That's fine.  I have plans to take this one back to the easel, to rework areas I think I might improve.

It's an image from my backyard, probably about twenty years ago (how is THAT possible?!) Could be today.  Two pairs of my jeans and a towel, hung out on the line to dry.  The painting titled, quite simply, "Laundry Day."

I'm quite certain those jeans are long gone.  I know the clothesline is.  Did you read what I wrote on March 2, about how art endures? (link here if you would like to read it now.)

At one time I think this image identified me.  Spoke to my 'brand.' I was known for being the artist with the holes in her jeans.  Now jeans are sold with holes as a fashion statement.  Was I a trendsetter?

I don't really care about fancy clothes.  My mother did, and tried to teach me to dress what was then referred to as 'preppy.' Or what I used to call dressing for the country club set.  I always preferred my jeans and bare feet.  "Getting dressed for work" now means a pair of clean jeans fresh from the laundry, and a t-shirt or tank top in similar condition.  So goes the artist's real life.

Ok.  I'm rambling. So what's my point?

I started this blog series a week ago with the intention of "let the paintings speak." Invite them (me) to tell their story.  Why did I choose the subject matter? What was the meaning behind them? That sort of thing. 

One week in, I feel like I haven't quite yet hit my stride.  Or maybe I have.  Maybe I'm discovering that while it's fun to share the stories of the 'why' behind my paintings, the truth is I really don't paint with deep hidden meanings.  It's more like what is said of new fiction writers, that most first novels are at least loosely autobiographical.  I paint, most of the time, vignettes of my own life. Maybe that's the larger truth behind my paintings.  

As Lily Tomlin's character Edith Ann used to say on Laugh In (are you old enough to remember Laugh In?) "That's the truth." (minus blowing a raspberry at you.  Click here for the full visual and audible!