Thursday, May 1, 2008

Amethyst Fountains


"The lady comes to the gate dressed in lavender and leather
Looking North to the sea she finds the weather fine
She hears the steeple bells ringing through the orchard
All the way from town. She watches seagulls fly
Silver on the ocean stitching through the waves
The edges of the sky."
One of the lines in that song is about a horse riding through the waves on the shore, "scattering the sand and foam into amethyst fountains." I thought that sounded so pretty and I've had it in mind lately. I think snatches of that song have ended up in several of my paintings lately. The piece above is too dark for amethysts, but I like to imagine there's a bit of sparkle or foam in the white that shows through. This was also done with wax and two layers of paint.
I'm going through the red tape portion of netfiling my return and I'm exhausted. While waiting for call backs to help with my issues, I worked for several hours on one of my paintings. I ended up having to undo all my work in the end. There's nothing for compounding exhaustion than when a painting doesn't work. It wasn't just because of the taxes.
Tuesday afternoon I had such a stimulating conversation with another artist about art that I only slept one hour that night because my brain was still spinning, trying to work it out. I want to consolidate the elements in my work. If I can to do a little editing, the message will be stronger, clearer. I don't know how yet. My ideas are hitting dead ends. Plotting, planning, trying to stretch... I think I need a bit more down time before it will come together.

8 comments:

Victoria said...

Very lovely work. And I think we all hit those creative dead ends, I use to fear that the well had completely dried up. Now I think of them as incubation periods, where I just have be patient and alert, because sooner or later the idea will become clear and will be ready to be birthed.

Unknown said...

this is unlike what i have ever seen, the colours and texture..everything is new and looks very exiting too.

happy weekend :)

picciolo said...

I love this one, it is in my colours! I hope you get some of the down time you need over the weekend
: )

Peggi Meyer Graminski said...

Hi Shayla!

This is an extraordinary piece - I love the brilliant purple (as well as the words you chose to accompany the art).

Hope you are able to enjoy a restful weekend =)

Peggi

MiKa Art said...

mmmm....you were having tough days, eh? Hope you could have some rest!

This work is just so BEAUTIFUL!!

Mary said...

Shayla, I think you have no problems bringing your pieces together, you do it so successfully and I have also been through those nights where I'm bombarded by ideas and can't sleep, but it is such a wonderful (butterflies in the stomach) feeling, I only wish I'd get my ideas down more often.:)

Anonymous said...

I understand what you mean about art puzzles occuping the minds energy This can be very tiring ...until you find the solution. Ah sweet victory keeps us painting
Have a good fin de semaine
amber

Shayla said...

Thanks so much for your support and encouragement, everyone!