This painting sat around a long time before i before i figured out how to finish it. I spent a considerate of time the green background with a variety of mediums, watercolors, acrylics, ink, spray ink. I wanted that to be the painting, but even i decided the damn thing was a background. When i’m stumped about what to do next with a painting, i ask my husband. He’s really not all that into art, but he often has insightful, fresh ideas. I asked him what he thought i should do next. He just said, orange. I agreed.
I was left on my own to figure out what to do with simply the idea of orange. As i said, the painting sat there looking lonely, still taped to a board. I knew exactly the orange color i wanted and even where it was. I have two bins of acrylic paint. One is low priced paint and the other is expensive paint. The tubes in the cheaper bin are full and the ones in the expensive one are all practically empty. It might be time to buy a couple of tubes of the fancy paints, colors you can’t get with the the others. The one i wanted was in the expensive bin (Golden brand paint) that was just called, orange. It’s a very bright, but not neon color.
I didn’t have any idea to do with this cool color and cool background. Then i read on a news site that there were a lot of wildfires in northern california, much further north than where i live (the bay area), thank goodness. But it touched me. I imagined the trauma of having your house burn up.
I thought the orange would be like the swath of the fire ripping through the state.
The orange paint is creamy and thick, totally opaque. A little really does go a long way. I mixed some with water and stirred it up with a palette knife’. When it was viscous enough to drizzle, i poured it across the green and added a few drops around the main fire (orange line). They’re like little fires that had jumped away, maybe to start other big fires.
inspiration always comes to me, even if it takes a long time to get to me!
adventures in existence 