What inspires you to paint or create?
This beautiful climbing tea rose captures my heart every spring and summer as it winds its way up the the pergola outside our bedroom window. At the first hint of warm sunshine, bright red shoots appear on the old canes and rapidly claim their territory on the bottle green lattice wall of the vegetable garden. The petals first emerge in shades of soft apricot pink, gently transforming to their full glory with lipstick pink flushes and silky smooth perfume, then ageing gracefully wearing ad hoc blemishes as badges of life experience.
It was the colour and exquisite beauty that drew me to paint this rose just over a year ago. I always choose my artworks from the large library of flower photo’s I’ve taken over the years. Sometimes an image is in my heart and mind before I start looking, whilst at others I know I’ve found the right flower when it gives me the ‘Wow!’ feeling and a sense of excitement and energy, as happened with ‘Maman Cochet’.
It feels like a powerful urge to express some aspect of my being, and if I don’t act on it, it continues to build until I feel frustrated. If I delay the moment of picking up my brush for long enough, I become grumpy. Most artists will know this feeling. It’s like we don’t have a choice in the matter, we just ‘have to paint’. I’ve learnt to go with the feeling rather than fight it as it is simply a way for my soul to express itself. Creating from the heart always reveals something about who we really are, our true self, the person underneath the one we have learnt to present to the world.
Being a poster sized artwork, I completed about 70% of the painting in a few weeks, then lost motivation. Several times in the ensuing months I half-heartedly attempted to finish it, but didn’t ‘feel’ it so couldn’t sustain the energy to continue. It wasn’t until two days ago that I decided its time had come. It was like I needed to let it go and move on, but I felt compelled to finish it first. I’m not a person who likes unfinished projects hanging over me.
Now that the artwork is ‘done’, it amazes me that even after twelve months of looking at it on the home screen of my phone and leaning against the wall in my studio, the painting still excites me. The stark contrast of the petals and foliage add depth and richness that bring out the best in the bloom and make it pop. It’s such a pleasure to look at that I think I’ll have it framed and hang it in my studio as a reminder of what inspires me to paint.