LanternLeaf

“Woah, that’s interesting…” Was my sisters reaction.

“Interesting?” I was sort of offended.

“It looks… different from your normal stuff.”

“Because she’s not sad?” I paused to think about the finished product. “It’s going to be raining.” I said. I only thought about the phrase afterward. Metaphorically it’s be taken negatively. Rain is almost always used to infer sorrow or the tough times ahead. How funny I always thought when I think of the happiness I get from the cold, damp air of fall and winter that reminds me of 4AM  and falling asleep in the back seat of a car that was headed for a place I didn’t like. Why then do I love the feeling so much? The calm before the storm?

After the rain quenches the thirst of the earth. The sun will come out and parch it again. The heat that zaps my energy and fizzes out the spark of my inspiration. The dry spell of nature that is only looked forward to at the thought of cooling it. Why then is the sun awaited and the sun dreaded. Not by me.

So, figuratively I’ll say as they do. When I hear the sound of heavy beads crashing against my umbrella and think about what will come after the clouds dissipate.

“It’s going to be raining.”

Rain is not a subject I enjoy painting or drawing digitally for that matter. But it’s something I think is very symbolic as a cleanser. Something that symbolizes your pain in the past and your joy in the future. However as it’s happening, I feel very neutral. It is, to me, a moment of peace. That’s what inspired me to paint this.

Completed: 11.05.20011

Done on canvas with acrylic paint.

You didn’t have to go outside today. Watching from your window, most people would wonder why you had. Every person who turns your way on the street is secretly assuming about the many important things you have to do today that would force you to leave the comfort of your home. Every soft patch of snow that throws off the pattern of your footsteps and every sheet of ice your brush off your shoulder will seem like such a burden to these strangers and onlookers. And as you breathe a warm breath on your gloves to see the apparition of something you can’t normally see , these onlookers will assume that you’re just keeping warm.

Snow is, by far, my favorite subject to paint, traditionally or digitally because of the fantasy of it. It’s something that can express many emotions like sorrow and distance, but also joy and something magical! I did this to see if I could capture snow that same way I traditionally as I can digitally.

Completed: 09.17.2011

On canvas with acrylic paint.