A matter of choice

If you're a fan of artist Jane Davies, you may notice right away that this painting was inspired by one of hers.

From time to time, when I see art I admire that's pretty far out of my comfort zone I attempt to do something similar in hopes of expanding my range. This is an expansion of yesterday's work, and way too close (and yet still SO FAR AWAY) to the painting of Jane's that I was emulating to ever be saleable, so yes, it's an experiment, and will at some point be painted over.

That said, I think today's version is a big improvement over yesterdays, though the squiggly red line could have been wider and less hesitant: for some reason it didn't occur to me that my strokes would be so much less confident if I squiggled from right to left instead of left to right... I do like those little sponge squares, though; I think I may use those again. I also note that, once again, the addition of a little bit of quinacridone nickel azo gold really perks things up.

So I was feeling a little better about the stretching I'm doing and some of the choices I'm making. And then I saw Chuck Gumpert's newest on Instagram and was reminded again of how much I still have to learn. Which is not a bad thing, right? As long as we're learning we're still growing; it's all good.

Which applies also, of course, to life in this pandemic: as long as we continue to learn, to listen to and care for one another, we have hope it won't achieve the magnitude of damage already being registered in China and Italy. Unfortunately not everyone is listening, and -- worse yet -- the levels of trust are so decimated in this country that not everyone is believing, and, worst of all, there are clearly lots of people who believe their age or their religion makes them immune and are therefore not caring that they may be carrying the virus to others who are more vulnerable.

Which means I now have both friends and family members who, despite their best efforts, have been exposed. Meanwhile I see an unprecedented number of community-minded folks who are taking advantage of this time to offer classes, musical performances, shared chats and worship services -- even a shared soup supper. It's a beautiful thing, and inspiring. And so for now, for today, even though my art's not what I hoped and I'm worried about my loved ones, I choose to be grateful -- and will continue painting.

Learnings: when squiggling, stroke right to left
                   square squiggles don't come naturally to me.