“Colorado Joys”

Greetings!

It’s been awhile!  This summer has been so exciting and fast-paced that I wasn’t completely finishing any pieces until lately.  So here is my first and thank you for your loyalty!

This landscape piece was created for one of my dear friends who sincerely loves and misses Colorado.  I sketched it out, which took longer than expected in regards to deciding where to position the subject matter.  Following this, I was quite eager to paint, so I leapt right into the watercolors (not figuratively of course!) and just went to town.  However, it was initially a struggle because the picture appeared to be juvenile in color and technique.  So what did I do?  I did what most every artist (that I’ve met) does.  I added more layers!  Colored pencil, more paint, ink pen-anything within reason.  I stuck to it and felt unsure initially upon completion, but it’s true that we are often our own worst critic.  Although my painting is in no way perfect, it took me a moment to remember the original purpose of the piece as a gift, not a soulless project that has to be flawless.  As long as it fulfilled its function, the mission was accomplished and either way she loved it, encouraging me with gratitude and praise.  How sad for art to simply be the result of perfected expectations alone.  While that certainly has its own important place, there is still a certain sincerity and life absent in the pursuit of large art projects without purpose, it seems.