April 5, 2010
4:00am in the morning
In bed, all cuddly and warmI brave the chilly spring night to make a restroom run, half asleep. Not so gracefully dodging the land mines that are animals, clothing, shoes, bed, husbands feet hanging off the bed, and the cable cord that the cats so meticulously teased out of the wall....again. After the pitstop I reverse the order and avoid again everything that stands in my way of blissful sleep. Trying to get my mind to work just enough so as not to wake up, but still try to visually remember the order that everything is laying in. Finally back in bed, pulling the blanket up around my shoulders and chin to return once more to the dreamworld that we all escape to from this crazy world we live in...Ahhh Sleep...
Then, It hits me, like a bolt from God... The BEST Paintings EVER! I can see it, all of it, in full glory. Colors so bright they almost hurt my eyes to even think about. Every curve, every scale in perfect harmony. I could do this. Even the title is perfectly formed. Like Venus born whole from the sea every little detail, color, tone and flow is there before me. Even the very reference photos that Ill need to make everything JUST right with a pretty little bow on top. I can see it all, even how I'm going to paint it. Bush strokes, layering, color blending...the whole painting, finished and complete.
Should I get up NOW and draw it out before I loose it? Its really cold, and (Looks at clock glowing 4:13 in bright red digital script, the little dot in the lower right corner mocking me, signaling to my brain that its in the AM) I DO need to get things done tomorrow...maybe ill get up and just write it down, but if i get up and turn on lights, I WILL wake the whole house, and the man does have to go to work tomorrow... but what if I forget it, as has happened before...its the best painting ever! The one that will raise my carrier to new heights, that will sell every print before I can get them printed...THE ONE!
I KNOW! My cell phone has a note pad on it!
I roll over and find my cell phone, hoping the light doesn't wake the very patient husband next too me, and furiously type in short hand my idea. Adding colors and stance and even just a smidgen of the backgound. I roll back over, quite please with myself. All satisfied that the idea is safe, and tomorrow, in the wondrous light of the day I can begin the journey that will end in a glorious rising of artistic wonder. I sigh and relive the painting in my mind, holding onto it for as long as I can before I can remember no more.
At Least, thats what I believed at 4:16am...
April 7th 2010. 11:00am
The Studio I can finally get to working on the "Best Painting Ever" and Im really excited. I sit and start to think about the idea again, pulling out my phone checking my notes. Huh... I thought the legs..and the head...well...wait...
I pull out my computer and proceed to look up reference photos in my ever growing list in the thousands of images I thought I could use at one time or another, finding the few that I had in mind.
hummm...Well darn, that leg isn't turned how I remember. I thought the wings looked more like...welll...huh. crud. well...ok. Ill look around online at some other photos. Cats standing, cast sitting, dragons sitting, cats sitting up, dragons sitting up, dogs sitting, dogs begging. Goggle images, fotosearch.com, DA, elfwood, yahoo images...nope nope nope.
Ill just draw up some thumbnails to see if I can work things out there. 14 thumbnails later and Im ready to chuck the best painting ever....
That is where I'm at now. I like aspects from about 6 thumbnail drawings, and still have the idea in my mind, even is it has lost some of its 4:13am shine. I am determined to paint this bugger though! I hope to post some kind of drawing later on tonight. Maybe I just have to wait till 4:13am...
