About five years ago I made a painting of a woman in a dark room with flowers, poppies and geraniums. She gazes thoughtfully out towards the viewer, waiting for creative inspiration. Her hand holds a pencil, poised over a blank sheet of paper, about to write a poem.
I painted from my imagination. The woman is meant to me me, although not in a very realistic sense.
When I was working on this painting, I was lucky enough to be photographed by a local photographer named Jillian Paige. She visited my studio, which was on third street at the time.
Jillian Paige took pictures of me working on this painting. She was also a mother, artist, and small business owner, so we both had a lot to talk about. The photo shoot was so enjoyable, and the photographs were stunning.
I highly recommend Jillian Paige Photography!
I do miss the glorious afternoon sunlight that this studio on third street used to get! However, I appreciate the privacy and constant northern light of my current studio on seventh street.
Here is the finished painting. For me, this piece is about finding the quiet solitude necessary to create art, and leaning into melancholy and darkness. During this time of the year especially, as the days grow shorter, darkness makes its presence felt. Flowers and poems and art can be a force of light, of course, and help to bring balance. But when we sit in the darkness with acceptance, it can be a source of creativity.
In the painting I am about to write a poem.
But I still don’t know what that poem is.
“The Poem” oil on canvas, 36 × 36 inches
I sold this painting a few years ago to a collector in Norway. Here is a photo that she sent to me, of my painting in her house. She wrote to me the best thing I could ever hope to hear from a collector:
