My intention was to paint another hibiscus yesterday, but when I went to pull out a canvas, I came across this one which I had already added texture to some time ago. It called for something different. The texture made me think of either the veins in a leaf, or trees in the winter with no leaves (I always think of them as dead trees, even though I know they’re not).

I started with a layer of light blue, wiped some of it off the tops of the ridges, then lightly added brown to those ridges, and it did look like a closeup of tree branches. I layered in some white, a darker blue … now it was depressing. It looked like winter to me. So I dry-brushed in a little orange at the top of a “tree”.  My younger son peeked over my shoulder “So, what is it?” I wasn’t sure, but I had a title “Set winter on fire”.  He raised his eyebrows & backed away.

Well, now that he’d called me on my bullshit, I knew I’d have to dig a little deeper. I covered the canvas in a mid green hue and immediately felt relieved, and excited. I started layering in some lighter & darker greens on the ridges. Then I looked over at the huge potted philodendron in my studio.

I identified it in a plant book once as a Monstera, but I like Philodendron, it sounds less likely to be able to creep up behind me at the easel and gobble me up! Sometimes it does grow into a monster though, we’ve had to cut it down drastically a few times over the years when it’s grown as tall as the ceiling and its feelers were sticking to the ceiling & walls. My husband brought it home from work when we were newlyweds in 1997. He said it sat in his boss’s office for 2-3 years before that and never had more than 3-4 small leaves. I decided to move it to a larger pot, fresh dirt, a little fertilizer … and it’s been growing like crazy ever since.

Anyway, I cut off a large leaf that was dragging on the floor and put it in a vase next to my easel. I started painting blue sky holes on my green canvas. And the rest of it, you can see for yourself.

Sometimes I play movies while I paint, this time it was “Life of Pi”, which is such a visually rich story I couldn’t believe I’d waited so long to see it … but by the time I got to the twist in the end, I realized I probably won’t watch it again. I loved it, but it was such a dramatic, emotional journey … I like light-hearted movies to paint to. For some reason, “The fifth Element” works well for me, I’ve done long sessions where I’ll play it on repeat as background noise. It’s funny, and I don’t have to look at it to know what’s going on, keeps my head company while my heart paints.

Tune in for more tomorrow … you’d never guess what’s on my easel in a million years!