I feel a bit disingenuous.
QM asked me in this post where I got the idea to use spray paints on my Flower Power painting. I told her it was a fun medium to use.
What I didn’t tell her was that I use spray paint all the time, on odd pieces of furniture.
My first was to change a file cabinet from the bland creme-color it came in to a blazin’ fire-engine red. Ah, how happy that made me!
Another time, when my paper effluvia outgrew my red-hot storage unit, I bought another lifeless four-drawer metal cabinet, this time tan, and began experimenting with different spray paints.
First I painted it day-glo orange, but it looked vaguely like a clementine, which, if you know file cabinets, just didn’t cut the mustard. I added day-glo pink, and still, something was missing.
Then I got the idea to plaster flower power stickers all over it and paint it a sort of olive green. Wa-la! A filing masterpiece. Now I smile every time I deposit yet another cell phone or credit card bill away to never be seen again.
(Who said filing is dull? Probably the same person who said ideas are fresh.)
I see my flower power cabinet every day — it sits in my writing room — and I guess it’s affected me. In more ways that I can imagine.
Oh, I love that you posted that part of your process! I remember when you were painting that file cabinet but I did not make the connection to the Obama background until now. 8)
I had lunch with another artist friend this afternoon, also a painter, and she was talking about how she was feeling uninspired right now. No new ideas or longing to paint. So she went to the studio last week and pulled out an old painting that never felt quite done to her; she’s going in and giving it a makeover.
We were talking about how going back to an old painting or project and breathing new life into it, can sometimes lead to solid ideas for new projects or new paintings. The idea is to get lost in the painting or the writing or whatever until the muse strikes again.
I guess that’s a form of practice, to keep painting, even if it’s on an older painting, until the muse strikes for something new. There is such a thing as painter’s block. So many things can get in the way of doing any kind of creative work.
Well, I took that tangent off in another direction, but you know what I mean. It’s great that you were inspired to take something you had used before and introduce it in a new way. Plus on canvas which you haven’t done much before. Keep on painting ~ your show is right around the corner!
I’m at the studio. It’s windy and sunny and cool. The succulents by the window love it here. Very sunny. I want to play around with the mandalas but might not have enough time left this afternoon. We’ll see how far I get.
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I wondered if you would remember, QM, when I was painting the file cabinet. Man, it was so hard to come up with something I liked. And I was 1/3 of the way done painting with orange when it was clear that wasn’t the right color. And then I thought I could blend the orange and the pink, and that clearly wasn’t working out. I kept that file cabinet outside on the back patio for days, and it seemed the same people walking by on the ditch would watch me struggle with it or just watch it stay there unfinished.
I used to paint furniture all the time. Wild colors, and then stamp them with potato stamps. Real rustic types of things. I’m not into that any longer, though. Although I have two Adirondack chairs that I am going to paint blue this weekend. I tried to strip them and leave them natural last summer, but that didn’t work.
I love those kind of projects.
QM, your friend sounds like she’s got a good idea for getting the spark of inspiration going again. This weekend I hung out at my favorite bookstore and just looked through books on my favorite painters for an hour. Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso. And mostly I thought about the themes pulsing through their work and wondered what was going on in their lives to bring out these themes. For Diego it was politics and the rights of the indigenous and industrialization and beauty. And Frida’s body and life and pain all played a huge role, as did politics and women’s rights. And nature.
Right now, politics and political messages and expression have a hold of my imagination. I’ve finished my third painting, and it is also political and satire. And I have the fourth one completely laid out in my head. And then a fifth, as well. I’m definitely on a roll.
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yb, it’s good to be on a roll when you have a deadline to meet! Hmmmm, you are making me want to paint our brown filing cabinets a cheerier color now. I know we have a few cans of spray paint in the closet. Liz loves those kinds of projects, too.
Inspiration really can come from anywhere. Looking through books is a real boost for me, too. If I get stuck in art or writing, I can go to the bookshelves and find inspiration. And sometimes that leads to new ideas. I’m glad you have found a positive way to channel your political energy. It seems like that has always been an important theme in your life. And visual political work is different than writing about politics; it’s another way in for people that may allow them more freedom of interpretation. The edge of political writing is different (to me) than the edge of political art. It’s less harsh. I don’t know why that is.
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Hey QM, are your file cabinets dark brown or that ubiquitous file-cabinet tan? (Surely there is a color called “file cabinet tan.”)
Speaking of brown, I love natural woods and those shades of brown, but I’ve never really liked brown as a color for decorating. But then I replaced the little rug in our master bathroom. I went from a sort of creamy white (bad color, btw, for us anyway) to chocolate brown, and I bought one chocolate brown towel to go with some tan ones we already had, plus a couple of towels that had striped choc brown, pink, turquoise, cream pattern. It was a cheapo make-over, and it’s great! Now I’ve changed my mind about brown as a color for decorating.
I also found for my writing room a round fabric ottoman, more tall than wide, and I use it as a little table to put things I’m working on for either writing or painting. It’s the flower power colors and theme, with the flowers a bit more stylized. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it at Marshall’s (one of my favorite stores, like Ross Dress for Less and TJ Maxx). It goes so well with the flower power cabinet, so now that cabinet is more of a decorative element than it was before.
As with inspiration, style can come from any ol’ where. Just got to keep your eyes open.
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Two are dark brown. Another is a strange shade of gray/tan/green. Not sure exactly what you’d call it. Yeah, maybe I’ll keep the chocolate brown ones as they are. I actually like that color. Tan can be okay if it’s surrounded by darker complementary colors. It really depends on what’s going on around things. I really want to paint the walls in our laundry room while I have this extra time but I’m going to have to structure it in. I think when I get back into town next week, I’ll start looking at that. Liz would be thrilled. I am a nester and actually like to do certain types of decorating. But if I don’t plan it into my time, I don’t get to it. So I need to put it in my calendar!
How’s the painting going today? BTW, it’s Earth Day. I think your Flower Power patterns go well with the dark browns and rich blacks and deep greens of fertile Earth. 8)
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QM, all I want to do is paint! It’s an obsession. See, this is what happens when I get into something. Writing a short story or an essay. Once I get into it, I’m a goner.
I’m so excited to start my fourth painting, and the fifth. The fifth stays with the look and feel of these others but opens up a new theme. Not politics. Well, at least not elected officials. More like the politics of beauty. So, yeah, maybe similar theme.
I’m not a fan of tan cabinets. Too drab. But you know where I like tan? I like a wall painted sort of the color of a brown paper sack. It’s a great color for a wall.
Does your laundry room have any windows? I wouldn’t paint a wall tan if it had little to no natural light.
Speaking of Earth Day, Em was to wear “Earth Day colors” to schools today. What are those, we asked. Blue, green, brown. So she wore a beautiful aquamarine green top she got for her birthday, blue plaid shorts, and her little black-and-white cap. She always wears a sort of cap, the kind you might see on a Basque fisherman or a taxi cab driver. Not a baseball cap, but the kind Andy Capp (was that his name?…the cartoon character) wears. She looked adorable.
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It’s pretty awesome looking, alright.
Do you think you could do something with my sock drawer?
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Flower power sock drawer. 8)
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I just saw this. Totally cool and very timely with all things reclaimed and made new.
I think you should venture out with fabric paints and make a clothing line. Do they make fabric paint in spray cans? I’d wear a skirt!
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