One Thing Leads To Another

It's fascinating to me how one little drop creates such a ripple, how one little action, following another little action, can lead to an entire change of path.

I stopped a few weeks ago at the library to return a few books. On a whim, I decided to go in and browse the art section. On another whim, I picked up a book whose title caught my eye. 

When I returned home to read it, I fell in love not only with the artist's work and style, but his way of approaching his art and his life. (You can view the book, Acrylics Unleashed, by Glyn Macey, here.)

Continuing on this path that had randomly begun, but that now sparked such interest, I decided to follow the techniques the artist provided for mimicking one of his paintings.

(It should be noted that I rarely do this. There are many reasons why learning via "copying" other artists' work is a very beneficial way to learn, and many reasons why I typically don't do so. But this is not the time to discuss that. The point is raised to indicate how contrary this is to my "norm"...and thus, how delightful it was to discover what emerged from letting myself try something new.)

I shared the work in progress over on Facebook, looking like this:

I loved the gradients, the ways that the colors mixed. My work was not looking exactly like the original artist's piece, which was quite fine for me (and actually encouraged by the author / artist.)

But it didn't feel done.

After a few more hours of working on the piece, this is where it finished:

Depths. 11x14, acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas.

It speaks to me now not necessarily of the original sandy beach that it started out as. The contrast in colors and the vibrancy of movement in the piece invite me into deeper places of reflection, call me into the reds of a passionate fire and inky midnight blues of broad waters.

It asks me to delight in the depths. 

This piece has led to an entire series of work, which I'll be revealing and discussing soon.

One random stop at the library, one random book, and I have discovered new meanings and set upon a new path in my artistic work.

Fascinating.