June 26, 2009

Click on the photo to see some of the detail.

This tiny photo just does not serve the actual piece.

Not that a larger photo would, but it's certainly better than this.

My parents spent a week at Omega Institute and my mother spent her week in a painting class. This was not a class for artists, but for people who are simply interested in expanding their ability to be creative. My beautiful mother happens to be an artist, though she might argue that statement. She decided to give herself some creative guidelines when she started the class: For one thing, she was not going to worry about how the paintings came out. She reminded herself that she was painting for herself and no one else. Second, she would use the largest brush she could find because normally, she picks the smallest brush and drives herself crazy with little details. Third, she would let the paintings paint themselves. Fourth, she would be as abstract as she wanted. Fifth, she let herself be completely free.

She painted seven paintings in four days. She let me keep three of them. I could have taken all of them, but my father also wanted them, so we had to compromise. He's the patriarch, so I let him have one more than me.

This one is my mother's favorite. I did not keep this one because I am hoping she will frame it and hang it in her office, which I am hoping she transforms from an office to a painting studio. I could not stop watching this painting, it seemed so alive to me. And hearing her, watching her talk about her work and her process, and seeing her face light up when she described how this painting painted itself, it was one of the very best parts of my day.