Light, hope, plans, and chaos

I paint many subjects – clouds, flowers, landscapes, animals. But the thing that ties them all together is white light. I am inspired my light and show it shines through and around whatever subject I paint. There is something about the way the light hits the subject that brings out the soul of whatever it is that I paint. There is something good and pure about it.

In my paintings, there is hope and optimism. My paintings are an escape from a world where sometimes it’s hard to find the truly good things. Life gets hard, life gets stressful, life gets difficult. We are faced with hardship and obstacles. Paintings can be that visual reminder, an affirmation, that allows you to keep going. They can give you the inspiration to become a better person, or to do something good in the world or the people around you.

When I start a new painting, I begin with a sketch on canvas (in coloured pencils, if you remember from my previous email!). I like to have a plan. I like to have everything correct and in place. Then I layer on top of that acrylic washes to strengthen that sketch, to give colour to my plans. Everything is structured, proper, and in place.

However, the next layer breaks all of my carefully laid plans. I take out spray paint and add speckles and splashes. Something unexpected always happens. The randomness of life and universe always breaks those carefully laid plans. I collaborate with the universe, with chaos, to add random chances, unexpected turns and twists, and a certain feeling that in life you can’t always control things.

The next layers of oil is me taming that randomness to bring the painting and life back in control. To make sense of it. To find a happy compromise with my beginning plans and what reality actually is. My carefully laid plans need adjusting to accommodate the randomness and unpredictability. I use transparent layers in certain areas to allow the chaos to show through. Then I softly add opaque whites and pastel colours to calm it down.

Final detailed strokes to define edges are carefully laid down with care and precision. After I cover up most of the randomness, I invite it back in with one more layer of white speckles to give the sparkle and shine of bright light.

In the end, I’m left with a beautiful compromise between control and chaos.