I’ll give you three guesses to my state of mind. Here they are.
There’s a Cat on My Faberge
I’m still in a bit of painting funk. I want to paint, but I don’t necessarily want to paint something. So, I was swirling things around and… a cat came and sat on my paper.
Emotion: Frustration
The Women
My sincere apologies, but this painting has a lot of references to Christianity. If that is something that triggers you, please feel free not to read.
Tired of twiring paint around aimlessly, I decided to work with a piece of pre-aimlessly-painted paper. As I was twirling the paper around on my desk, I kept seeing the figure on the lower right. As I kept developing, I saw more figures. And started to tell myself stories. There is Mary, mother of Jesus (i.e. unwed mother), the Woman at the Well (i.e. prostitute), and the sisters, Martha and Mary (Martha who does the spiritual and Mary who does the practical and they just can’t seem to work it out.) All of these figures have head coverings. Then there is… someone on the left. You can figure out who for yourself (not necessarily Jesus, but that is one interpretation.) In my view, it is someone who can listen and soothe and tell these women that they are valued.
Emotion: Discouraged.
Karl, the Rugby Kelpie
I am not sure where Karl came from. I was working to finish another aimless start and he emerged. Strong. Playful. Confident.
Emotion: Wishful.
I really like the idea of the women pulling together to support each other in the part of the Nativity story that is never told. I like free flowing imagination — your willingness to share helps to make it less scary to let things come up unbidden when I’m exploring freely.
What a nice thing to say. Thank you, Ann.
Very interesting. I do love the women supporting each other. In the back next to the two figures it looks like a noose. Is that intentional or am seeing things? I also love the cat on the eggs. Karl is cute – I think. Maybe this is what you need to do – just play for awhile. I am having a hard time working on a couple of paintings. Maybe I need to play too. Hang in there!