Hi!
Someone recently asked me,
"Do the ideas for your paintings just pop into your head?"
I used to think that inspiration worked like that all the time.
That is truly heart-warming when it does. But the sudden spark comes lot more often when we are ready to take advantage of it.
Yesterday, when I was preparing tomatoes for canning, I was already thinking toward Thanksgiving and how I could paint the concept of gratitude.
Then I saw how the light was falling on those fresh juicy tomatoes sitting in a steel bowl, awaiting their turn to be dunked in the scalding water.
It occurred to me that somewhere among my props was an antique enameled strainer. I left off canning to go get it and set up a still life for a potential artwork.
That spark of inspiration came quite suddenly...or did it?
Would it have come if I hadn't already been thinking and planning toward Thanksgiving?..or if I hadn't seen that strainer at an estate sale months ago and bought it, knowing I would find a way to use it?
Perhaps, but the flash of inspiration lasted longer and became an opportunity because the stage was already set.
I got this quirky habit of shifting focus suddenly from my Dad.
He always carried a pocket knife, ever on the lookout for interesting plant life along the highway.
We'd be on our way somewhere and Dad would suddenly pull off on the gravel shoulder and jump out of the car. He'd grab his pocket knife and run off into the deep grass.
There he'd be digging up some intriguing wildflower with its roots. And there we'd be sitting in the sweltering car with Mama rolling her eyes.
It's a good thing she was madly in love with our Daddy. I learned patience from my Mama. I learned to act quickly from Dad.
For example....
