My heart started to pound when I saw these huge sheets of watercolor paper in Perry’s Art Supply.
I had no idea the heavy paper I paint on came so big – sixty by forty inches! Though they were pricey, I bough all five sheets they had. On the spot. I was now equipped to go big with my art, as I’d been craving. At some point I had settled upon this image as one of those that would take being blown up so fantastically. Not every image can. There is a lot of detail in this one that would have made it challenging to paint small.
I started on it during a vacation to the mountains one summer – hoping to finish it in time for a big Labor Day art festival in Sausalito. As the days marched on, it seemed that the amount of work left to do actually grew! The last week I had to really focus and work hard, with another art festival the weekend before, it was a challenge to keep sourcing the energy. All the while, I asked myself what the heck I was going to name this big piece?
One morning, really early, I was listening to a playlist of songs on my iPod, my comfy headset making gorgeous sound and k.d. lang’s incredibly emotional version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah started playing. The lyrics refer to a “broken hallelujah” and the title dropped out of the music. “Hallelujah” – praise God, yes!
I am so fed by color, light, astonishing beauty, even and especially amidst scratches, teary water drips and brokenness.
August 2011 – 40″x60″ – Watercolor on paper
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