Unravelling…

Unravelling - by Miki

Some words about the creation process of this piece.

It was originally a gouache painting of Nightfall, one from my watercolour/gouache series “Times of The Day” which have never been exhibited, neither in the real world nor on the net. I liked it a lot as it was, but somehow I had worked on so many similar ones these last few weeks, that I wanted to do something more out of it.

Who knows what inspired me to add the silhouette of the black cat behind the foreground field line!

It was certainly the result of an association in my brain, which is, according to my experience, the way how my creativity works. I won’t enter into deep considerations about how the brain works, but I think I have found out that my own is very quick at creating association chains, and going from the first link of the chain to the last with lightning speed. Personally, I think that the basis of creativity is the ability to build these chains and to consciously use them.

Anyway, after the cat had arrived, I missed something in the foreground. Considering the expression of the cat’s eyes, I thought it needed to be something which teases him, and stops him going across the landscape. I thought of course of a mouse, Too simple. Then of a bird. Too simple. And anyway, both too cruel.  Kev Moore had the idea of the wool ball, and I loved it at once! This is the great thing when you live with another creative person, it always helps when you are stuck somewhere. Kevin inspired me on so many occasions already…

The title of the painting, “Unravelling”, is from Kevin too!

I posted that painting 2 days ago in my different galleries online. Here are, so far, my favourite comments about this painting:

“Miki I do always see a story within your art works, labyrinth, looking for string to go back to safety, curious eyes wanting to see behind the obvious…

Nice story telling art.”

“Looks 3 D. Love the ball of yarn!”

“A really nice painting. I like the light effects and all the subtle things going on in the purples”

And if you want to buy a reproduction of this painting, it is available as greeting card, poster and Giclee print canvas in my FAA Gallery

Homage to a Fan

This morning when I got up,  I went though my mails, as usual. I do now want to appear arrogant, but i do get quite often nice mails from people from all around the world, who like what I do. Well, whatever they say, it is always wonderful to read their appreciation, to think that they took the time write to me  and let me know how they feel about my art.

Well, this morning I found a very short message in my Art Site Guest-book, and I must say that this was one of the most beautiful and charming comments I have ever received:

“… I’d love to live in the world you have created in your paintings…”

Not many words, not complicated esoteric or deep philosophical considerations, just that… JUST WONDERFUL!

I don’t know why exactly it touches me so deeply. i started thinking about what is this world in my paintings, as it certainly does not correspond to the real world, but neither to a dream world of me, as I never dream, at least not awake. But I do know that I dream much and vividly nights… is it my Night World?

Well, if it is, and considering how exhausted I often awake in the morning after  dream-filled  nights, I am not sure that I would love myself to live in my paintings world! 

Not sure I would love to meet that CATalonia here…

New CATalonia

If anybody here wants to buy a print of New CATalonia it is available in different sizes and on different supports 9papers, canvas), in my FAA Gallery here:

Paul on the Road to Vieux-Boucau

The other day, I showed you how King Solomon suddenly appeared in the Jardin Massey in Tarbes…

Now it is the turn of Paul, whom I met on the way to Vieux-Boucau… lost his way to Damascus probably! Another example of how, in my brain, an innocent painting of a tree landscape within a camp site evolves into a dramatic Biblescape…

Aqualandes

We had a nice evening in Peyrehorade, but woke up under the rain next morning. This was not exactly what the weather forecast had announced, but well, armed with our perpetual optimism, we drove to  the Atlantic coast, hoping the rain would stop there. What a silly hope, when one knows that it never stops raining there, kind of! And in fact we arrived to Vieux Boucau under a much stronger rain! The mood plummeted considerably inside the Boomobile, we thought a while about driving straight back to our beloved Andalusia, but finally we decided to give France a last chance: we would wait until the next day and see.

!The motorhome service area was good though, providing electricity, next to the local camp site, but there were hardly campers, only  trees, these wonderful long and slim Landes pine trees which always show the direction of the wind. At some point we had a walk to the beach – you can see and read about it in Cafe Crem. I desperately wanted to sketch and paint, but except the pine trees and the rain, there was nothing inspiring for me there. So I decided to try again to paint from fantasy, whatever would come to paper through my fingers and brushes.

I first tried to remember the beach…. somehow there were dunes and sea and fenceposts… for my own pleasure I added the houses and the boat… these type of houses being in fact a memory of the houses I had seen in the Bretagne 3 years ago, when we had picked up the motor home there, which we had bought from Spain through the internet.

The sad truth is that when we walked to the beach, everything was grey… so who knows from where I took these wild colours! Some dreams I suppose…

I also tried some  pine trees, here is one of the paintings inspired by them

And then I forgot the sea and the beach and the pine trees and the rain and I just put colours on the paper. It is always quite scary to start a painting without any idea of what one will do, it is like jumping into a vacuum… I know some people paint only this way. I could do it too. What I find more difficult is to try to paint in all ways, totally free, or based on nature, to be able to change from constraint to freedom. I do believe that this is a great exercise to get a very free painting style, but not that free and wild that nobody knows what it is about. I do believe that we should sometimes go back to nature and look around us… whenever we think how great and creative we are, nature has by far the richest imagination and the most wonderful colours…

Anyway here are the results from that rainy afternoon session in a motorhome parked in a service area in the Landes… I am quite happy with them, I must confess, and, more important than anything: I enjoyed it a lot!

To recompense me for the good work and comfort himself from the hated rain, Kevin organised a food orgy in the Boomobile:  my mother had given us some “magret de canard” (ducks filet, kind of) marinated in I don’t know what with herbs from the Provence, and a bottle of Kevin’s favourite Rose d’Anhou… the magret was orgasmic, I tell you! Not so orgasmic though were the little grease stains all over the couch… the duck had tried to escape the pan and Kevin had a big fight with it while he was cooking