Thursday, July 11, 2013

INSPIRATION

Some time ago I decided to hold art-play ‘workshops’ for the purpose of helping others connect to their inner artist.  My motivation to do so came from a fellow arty Facebook friend who had shared with me his lack of inspiration to paint. It’s ironic that a year or so later I found myself in the same place; life definitely knows how to throw ‘curve balls’! One week I was happily sketching and/or painting  on a daily basis, never far from at the very least my artist journal, which went with me everywhere including a mix of various pencils, conte sticks and charcoals; then overnight it seemed as though I had lost all desire and passion for art!

My artist journal and sketching tools still went wherever I went, I’d ‘doodle’ or sketch whatever took my fancy; the water fountain at at Casabella Lane, the crowds at a local art event; however my motivation to work in my studio back home had all but disappeared.  Attempts to revive my passion to create works of art, in my beloved ‘Toi Toi Studio’, were stunted and erratic like a scratched DVD which refused to play!

My life became swamped with defeat, negativity and loss of hope; Instead of feeling elated in the morning and rearing to create something new or finish my works in progress, I felt burdened by the general daily tasks of running a family household. Now there were a lot of reasons that this had happened but now that I've finally escaped that ‘dry desert’, I write to share what ignited my creative artistic passion!

I had been surfing the internet flicking through the artwork of others, thinking how wonderful they all were, how fortunate for these artists to have the passion to paint such beautiful pieces and then this one work of art captured my attention! I took my hand off the keyboard, sat back in my chair and gazed for what seemed like an eternity at the image before me; it’s simplistic beauty, delicate hues of pink, white and red, the way this sole subject took up the whole canvas, its form and lines disappearing off the edges and most of all, it’s perfect three dimensional depth. I just had to recreate it!

THE ROSE