Remembrance - The Pink Chair Project" #22 "Sky Blue Pink"

Sky Blue Pink

36x36

AVAILABLE FOR DELAYED SALE (SEE BELOW) 

$1900

I thought this was the last one. It was to be large (end with a splash!). It was my last frame that I had purchased for the show. And the image was clearly an ending one, with a beautiful break in a cloudy rough dark sky beckoning Mom. The title was to be “Welcome Break” But as usual, Mom had other ideas and she let me know. All went along as normal with the painting. I started with just what I wanted, then got mired in the difficulties as the piece progresses. There’s something called the “chaos theory” that applies to painting and this was no exception. I was trapped in the clouds and they just wouldn’t work. So I took the photo to a black and white on my computer to see the value patterns better. Next to it was a photo I hadn’t noticed before of the same spot. What? The sky is lighter in this one? It glows! And the clouds are reflecting in the water! So I pushed it further and made all the colors brighter and took it back to the studio where I started putting whites on with a big brush and adjusting many grays to be more blue and purple. Then I got to the water, which was thinly painted over an orangish under-painting. I noticed that area looks like an expression Mom used to say “sky blue pink with orange stripes”, a color I could never visualize. As I painted the reflections in, I heard in my head: “sky blue pink with orange stripes” “sky blue pink with orange stripes” over and over until I was done and stepped back. Whoa! The sense of doom and gloom was gone and a sense of joy was apparent. Its like Mom said: Make it pretty, because I am not going anywhere so I want to enjoy it. You still have painting to do. And so I do. I already have 4 paintings in my head. There will be more chapters to this story.

I am now sharing my current show with my readers and daily paintworks viewers. This show is currently traveling and unreserved work will be available for purchase after the travel is completed, around mid-2014. Paintings may be held until then with a 10% down payment. E-mail me or see my pink chair project blog, for details. High quality giclee prints are available on paper or canvas in a range of sizes as well as blank cards with this image. E-mail me for further information.

This exhibit tells the story about painting a pink plastic Adirondack chair. The chair represents my mother, Carolyn Elizabeth Pedersen Schulte, of Rochester, NY, who passed on June 5th, 2011. She was a wonderful woman, full of love for everyone around her, and she loved this bright color pink. She was proud of me as an artist and would love what I am doing. I take the chair to favorite places of hers and to places or situations I know she would have liked. It is a way for me to grieve and to celebrate her life. I talk to her as I paint and make sure that she would want to be where the chair has been placed.