I'm an idealist at heart

I had a 'wait a minute' moment the other day just after I posted this lovely little story.

This little story reveals so much about my idealist ways.  

True fact, John and Eva Brodie were our neighbours.  I would go visit them.  Their home, the bones of it anyway were beautiful.  Inlaid hardwood floors in all the main rooms, lino in the kitchen, bevelled glass french doors, the works. 

Untrue fact, the spaces were lovely.  Here is where the 'wait a minute' pause comes in.  As I walked away from posting this little story, I hear myself say, "it wasn't like that at all."  No disrespect to John and Eva, but the place was a cluttered mess.  Papers stacked upon stacks and that smell that you can't quite pinpoint.  A touch of dust, age, and forgotten corners.  Nothing foul, just age.  

True fact, Eva did have a gorgeous garden.  Is there where my love of flowers came from?  Who knows.  I don't really think so.  I do remember her having lovely bouquet's inside that perfumed the house.  

Untrue fact, she had a baby grand piano.  I think she had an upright.  

So why have the details gotten all scrambled in my own mind?  Because I'm an idealist.  I likely walked into her home, saw the clutter, and my imagination took over and imaged the spaces all cleaned up and beautified.  

Quick fact about me, I see the beauty in even the most mundane things.  Certainly in my paintings, I'm able to focus on the beauty of an everyday object.  See they come alive for me.  Something about the shapes, the colours that are cast as the sun moves across the surface.  I find it mesmerizing.  

My husband and I were talking about my work versus say landscape scenes.  Where I am focused in a localized colour, dancing in the subtle nuances of a closely cropped image, a landscape is filled with so many textures, shapes, lighting effects - I think I find it a bit overwhelming. 

The flower paintings allow me to at peace with the image and relax into the variations that create the shapes.  It's fascinating to me. 

All this being said, I'm currently working on a landscape and really enjoying it.  There are a few differences with this piece. 
1) I'm not working from a detailed line drawing, which I do when I paint the complicated florals.  I had a detailed line drawing, but it vanished when I applied the first wash of oil paint.  Darn it. 
2) Without a line drawing I'm really relying on the shapes, colours and placement of the pigment.  It feels easier somehow.  I feel a learning lesson in the process of all this.  Pretty excited about it. 

Here it is.  Only the top left sky has been properly painted in.

Back to my idealist ideas.  Ideally I can capture the beauty of this place that has special significance for us. 

The ramblings of an artist finding her authenticity in the idealistic memories.