Looking back at 2020

 

It has certainly been a far different year to the one I had imagined this time last year but in a way (for my art only) I am glad it happened. This may seem an odd thing to say when I was unable to send paintings to exhibitions that I had been accepted into, or to take the reference photos that I had hoped and planned to take for new paintings, but the lockdown forced me to take stock and reflect upon where I was in my art journey and the direction or path I wanted to continue along. 

The four paintings of Isla in the photo above were not the only paintings I did this year but they were significant for me because the lockdown and then the year of social distancing forced me to look again at previously discarded references with a new more imaginative eye. 

I decided in each painting I created to consciously focus in on what was  important and develop a story or capture a certain mood in each through use of colour and value.  I have always loved using the luminosity of transparent watercolour, but this year I wanted to use it with more purpose creating pathways of light and soft high key edges. With no deadlines I was able to take my time. to stop and reflect when needed and sometimes even to start again until I felt the painting conveyed what I had initially hoped for.

Top left: Cookies Aint Just for the Big Guy

Bottom left: Small Wonders

Bottom Centre: Sharing is Caring

Right: Distant Dreams

Painting them has been an interesting  journey and has reinforced both why I love painting and make clearer to me the path I want to continue along in my art journey. (I promise that I will explain more about this 2nd part next year)  For now... I think I have rambled enough for this year.

Do you have a favourite?

These Cookies Ain't Just for Santa

 

 'These cookies ain't just for Santa' Transparent Watercolour 11 by 15 inches

Did you know that if Santa took just two bites from every cookie left out for him on Christmas Eve, he would consume roughly 336,150,386 cookies in one night!!!..... Isla thinks this is way too many for even a magical fellow like Santa to eat in one evening on his own but I am not sure she is going to share them with anyone else but Santa. Do you?

 Leaving cookies and milk for Santa—and perhaps a few carrots for his reindeer— really took off as a holiday tradition in the 1930s, during the Great Depression. The practice, brought over by European immigrants, was encouraged as a way to teach children generosity, even during the most meager of times. By leaving out cookies and milk for Santa, children would learn to be more grateful for the gifts they did receive, as well as, hopefully, to be giving to those who didn’t have much to eat during the Christmas season. It was a way to reinforce the idea that if you give, you will receive much more than money could ever buy... the knowledge that you have helped someone else to have a happier time.  It seems especially fitting to remember this motto this year when so many people have had such a hard year. I am sure Santa won't mind if you 'shared his cookies' around this year. See if you can support a food bank or gift drive to help those less fortunate than ourselves and involve the young ones if you can too.