Take Back Your Life!

I’ve discovered that imagination gets rusty when we don’t use it. As a young elementary school kid, I painted all kinds of wild pictures with nothing but my mind. No photos, no books, no anything.

I could conjure up what folks looked like, images, scenes from my yard. And I had a distinct style of semi-distortion. Over time, I stopped painting/drawing completely and then when I retook it up around the age of 39, I found it difficult to paint anything without some kind of crutch like a photo, etc

About two years ago, I took a drawing class and forced myself to draw only from my mind. I got better and better over time. In between classes, I might look at a picture of a ferris wheel, but once in class, I painted “wild.”

Well, I’m back taking a watercolor class – my switch from oils that dried out my eyes horribly – and I’m trying to paint once again from my mind and semi-distorted. I told one of the women that I wanted my paintings to be “imprecise” and that painting “messy” was my desire. She said, “that’s so inspirational.” Most folks try to paint very neat and controlled.

I did a series of Dr. Seussish looking lighthouses as part of a color value exercise. Colorful and lopsided. Almost look like ice cream cones.

I will try to scan it in, but my scanner is on the blink at the moment. Think I can do at least one if I get this thang working again.

I love drawing with ink/pencil and then watercoloring over it, so I can still see the outline. Am also going to resurrect my imagination drawings and see about adding color to them.

In addition to Dr. Seuss, I love Babar, the elephant books from my childhood. I still have one! Check out this link to Barbar illustrations: I love elephant feet the way he has drawn them!

“The happy effect that Babar has on us, and our imaginations, comes from this knowledge—from the child’s strong sense that, while it is a very good thing to be an elephant, still, the life of an elephant is dangerous, wild, and painful,” Gopnik writes. “It is therefore a safer thing to be an elephant in a house near a park.”

I also want to paint zebras. Wild zebras, multi-color zebras. I was telling my husband the other night that I had a stuffed zebra as a child, not a bear. I loved that beautiful animal and carried it around until the legs had no stuffing. Think my mother tossed it in the trash when I went to college. Frankly, I wish I still had it.

I feel very connected to zebras. wild and different. It feels like kismet looking back that my mother bought me a zebra …

Do you like to paint domesticated or wild? It really doesn’t matter, just a preference. Both can look good.

I’m going to offer some “wild painting” classes in the near future. Am embarking on some imagination adventures and this all fits in…

Thanks! G.

p.s. A reminder about my in-person class in ashland, mass: Stand up for yourself: The Courage to Follow Your Own Truth. Click here for details.