Apparently, I’m no Picasso…

I have a real passion for art, more specifically oil painting.  I tried my hand at it many years ago and fell in love with the fact that it takes me out of my head.  I work hard every day at my job and in my right brain….so, I rarely have time for the creative side of me that is constantly dying to peek out and play.

I come from a long line of artists, so I figure that’s where that little passion comes from and it always makes me feel good when the final painting is done and I can stand back proudly at my “masterpiece”…well, let’s get honest…most of my paintings are a FAR cry from beautiful pieces of masterful art.  They (to me) look more like a child trying to do a good job.  I’m a terrible “artist”, meaning I can’t draw for crap and the reason I like abstract and oil painting is that:

1.  Oils don’t dry nearly as fast as watercolor or acrylic, so it’s much more forgiving in that you can go back in a few days later and fix things or add texture, etc.
2.   Because I can’t draw, abstract is a great way to be expressive and creative without having to be meticulous and stay inside the lines.

So, there you have it.

I had not taken paintbrush to canvas in years because we moved to Florida and had been quite busy getting our life together, moving and quite frankly, didn’t have the space for it.  We finally moved into our new home in April and I knew I’d have plenty of space to set up a little art “zen” area for me to paint in.  The problem?  I wasn’t inspired.  I hadn’t thought of a single, awesome idea.  I mean, sure…there are things all around that you can paint or that look interesting, but I hadn’t felt inspired by any of those things.

Then, one day…I saw it.  Roux and Bones (www.rouxandbones.com) — my girlfriend had launched her company of amazing, I mean…stunning, amazing, all natural soaps, lush bombs, lotions, etc.  They smelled like heaven and they looked like you could eat them!  In any case, it was the LOGO.  That was it!  The logo inspired me and I knew at that moment, that would be my next painting.  In fact, SHE inspired me.  She had taken her passion and turned it into this amazing business…I wanted to show her how inspiring that was as well, to me.

I bought the canvas and my husband (for my birthday) bought me all new oil paintings and brushes.  I was in heaven.  I grabbed my glass of champagne (my standard ritual) and I headed to the lanai.  I couldn’t believe how easy it was to get started and just keep going.  After an hour, I had already washed the canvas, drawn the picture and gotten the half of the first coat of paint on.

In 3 weeks, my painting was completed.  I was so excited.  I loved it.  But then, I kept staring at it, wondering if it was truly complete, was it done, could I make it better?  Finally, I had to stop staring at it because I was driving myself crazy.  You stare at anything long enough (even yourself), you’re going to find something to critique and try and fix.  I finally just had to tell myself that I liked it and that was what mattered and hoped my girlfriend would fall in love with it.  After all, it’s art…everyone has a different idea of what they consider “art” or meaningful or beautiful or cool.  Right?  I was quite pleased and proud of myself, actually.  I had finished it.  I had painted again and my little creative, left-side brain was satiated.

I brought it into work so that I could send it out from there because we usually have boxes lying around and UPS comes daily for pick ups.  I put it in the reception area where it sat for a week because I couldn’t find a box big enough.

On Friday, my boss, the CEO, the “big guy”, was about to leave and looked down and said “What is this”?  I said, “Sorry, I’ll move it to the library”…not really thinking.

He said “This is hideous…what is it?”.  My face turned bright red and I was slightly stunned, but said “It’s a painting that I painted for my girlfriend for her company”.

He clearly hadn’t realized it was something one of his employees painted and quickly said, “I mean…I don’t mean hideous as in art or …you know, it’s not a hideous piece of art.  I mean, in a financial sense for …I mean…you know?  I, uh…okay have a good weekend everyone”.  And he left.

It didn’t really bother me.  Well, that’s not completely true.  It did.  In my simple PollyAnna mind, I kind of expected him to say “Wow, this is amazing, who painted it”? and then offer me like a ton of money to paint him something for his new home.  Back to reality, I went.  I had to just laugh though.  Open mouth – insert foot.  Right?  So, what lesson did I learn that day?  To again, take NOTHING personal.  😉

Like I said, everyone views art differently.  What I think is awesome, someone else might think (or obviously thinks AND says)…is hideous.

Here is my final “HIDEOUS MASTERPIECE” 😉

Sincerely,

MS