A New Beginning and a new painting

I'm very frustrated with social media. The algorithm, the oversaturation, the nightmare of the culture wars.

These things have all been complained about at length by smarter and more eloquent writers than me, so let my part just be to say that I'm hoping for a new enthusiasm for blogs to come forward out of this frustration.

Even if blogs, or this blog specifically, never becomes popular or widely read, at least I have a place of my own on the internet, that isn't being monetized by someone else, or shown between two ridiculous ads, or hidden completely from people who followed me. Though not many may see it, it is here, on my terms, and those that do want to see it can see it. It may be another exercise in futility, but at least it feels like my own.

So for this first blog of this year, I have a new painting to show you!

I call this painting Winter Quilt. It's a bit of a self-portrait. Not just because those are my feet, but because I made the quilt as well. I am showing how I put a part of myself into the things I make.

This quilt has a thick warm cotton batting inside and it's so heavy and warm. We keep it in our bed until the warm days of Spring begin.

I made the quilt from a gorgeous line of fabric called Outback Wife, based on vintage floral barkcloth fabrics. The rich colors and the granny-ish flowers spoke to me on a visceral level. They make me think if my Grandma Gene's brown flower couch, her gaudy orange and yellow wall paper, the yellow roses that bloomed in her yard, and the holly hocks, snowball bushes and peonies she grew.

It really is the perfect winter quilt, the rich colors satisfy my eye's hunger for saturated color on the long, dreary stretches we have this time of year.

The painting was a joy to create, and getting to recreate the vibrant blooms with my paints was just so much fun. And painting my feet was a very intimate experience as well. I was surprised at how baring this small part of myself to the viewer is quite a vulnerable feeling.

Here are some in-progress photos.

And again, the final picture.

​This piece feels like it is in a series with my piece "Music is Medicine."

This piece was lost in a tragic fiery accident involving the Fed-Ex truck that was carrying it to an art show. I will write in more detail about that soon. I want to preserve the story of this painting, but not today.

I feel that both paintings put into an image the feeling of putting myself into all that I create.

Anyway, I'm really happy with Winter Quilt, and I'm hoping for more inspiration for more paintings that are this fulfilling and satisfying in 2022.