Picasso Quote

I popped this Picasso quote on one of my paintings and agree wholeheartedly. Honestly, I work like a dog.  I don’t even have time for UN-inspiration.  If I am ever uninspired I just go to my studio and clean brushes, sharpen pencils, leaf through sketchpads, look at my artist trading cards. So, while I’m doing that I’m getting things done AND... before I know it, I’m inspired again!  I am usually the opposite of uninspired; I have so many ideas that I can’t turn them all into paintings, sketches or notes.  There are just too many!  How about you? By the way, this painting is IMPOSSIBLE to photograph! See the lines through it? That’s the clear, shiny varnish which I laid down showing brushstrokes.  Cool, Burt I suppose I’ll never get a good pic.  Oh, well. :/

Leaf Painting in Negative Space

A couple years ago I went to ‘Picasso, Black and White’ down at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.  I was not excited about it and had an appointment after my museum visit.  You may have noticed that I’m a pretty colorful girl, so I was expecting a bunch of tiny black and white sketches.  

Picasso blew me away!  I staggered out of the museum about five hours later hungry, exhausted, missed my appointment and inspired to the hilt! His work was monumental and in many pieces he entirely covered the canvases with colors, only to cover them up with white paint and quickly sketch in his subject. The ‘sketching’ was eliminating the white paint to show the colorful ‘underbelly’ of the piece. 

He inspired me to use negative space in my paintings and this is a good example.  Can you see how the entire piece was once entirely color? By painting the transparent white behind the leaves, the leaves are now the subject. This is for sale on my website, shown below.   It’s called ‘Oh the Beauty of the Earth!’

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