May

Original Sold

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This painting came from the unexpected.

• I was hanging an art show at a community club house and didn’t expect a lovely lily pond with perfect flowers in bloom.
• As I was painting it I found myself putting my brush in unexpected colors – bringing in purples and oranges in the sparkling light of the out-of-focus lily pads.
• And the main flower ended up being an entirely unexpected color.

In real life, the big lily was an intense hot pink. Someone who has been interested in owning a painting of mine at some point liked the idea of this one, but wondered if the flower could be a more subdued color. Taking on the challenge, I intended to make it a white lily. And while I was at it, I wondered if I could re-do the water. Instead of nearly black, as was in the original image I wanted to paint it light blue, reflecting the sky.

Then again, true to my experience, paintings have a life of their own.

The water had lots of interesting reflections, but once I painted it all in, the reflections didn’t make sense in a sea of light blue. The only way to rectify the mess I’d made (oy!) was to go back to dark water.

I painted subtle blues, turquoises and greens to give the white flower some dimension. And, no matter what I did, it was flat and dead and overshadowed by the relatively pale colored flowers to the right. In order to save the painting I had to bring in pink. But the pink was layered over blues, turqoises and greens, making it a much more subdued pink than if I’d taken inspiration from my reference image.

The name ties up a few ideas:

• It was late May when I saw the lily pond
• This lily floating on the top of the water does not insist, it allows permission and possibility.
• And even though my hands were directing my brushes, I certainly had to allow what may be with the end result. I have never felt less “in charge!”

Summer 2018 – 20″x40″ – Watercolor on paper