Sometimes we have to take some time to catch our breath and celebrate our achievements – no matter how large or small. And today I’m doing just that.
I almost titled this blog Finished! because that’s what I’m celebrating today – the completion of this painting. These days we are often so preoccupied with our chaotic world that we can be unfocused and leave projects half done. I am proud to say I got “in the zone” and finally finished Food Choices (formerly called Choices)!
It’s now hangs in the place of honor over my couch.
Temporarily, the painting of a Box of Dunkin Donuts that was here for 3 years is “on break” until I figure out where to put it.
A Lot of Firsts
At 36 x 36 inches, this is one of my larger painting, similar in scope to my Bakery Display paintings. There are a lot of firsts here. Certainly it’s my largest vending machine painting to date. It also has the most food items (20) and most logos (15). So many logos! It’s the first time I attempted bananas, carrots asparagus and corn. Obviously it’s the first time I put them together in one image. When I began this painting, I didn’t realize how ambitious a project it was.
Nor did I realize all the intervening events that would keep me from finishing it. I started it when we were living in our spacious house where there was a dedicated room for my home studio. Unfortunately, I had to dismantle my home studio to stage the house for sale while going through a divorce. The unfinished painting was relegated to a display easel in the family room before going into a storage unit for more than a year.
Eventually I retrieved Food Choices and brought it into my much smaller apartment. In order to take up where I left off, I first had to figure out a whole new way of working creatively in a modest, compact space. No more sprawling trays of paint tubes for me! It has been a struggle to adjust. After commiserating and brainstorming with other artists about this common challenge, I eventually got into a flow and finished it.
A Blast From the Past
As I just proofed this post before publishing it, I realized that there’s a song running around in my head, Celebrate The Moments in Our Lives!, the tagline from a General Foods International Coffees (GFIC) campaign I worked on years ago. It’s funny how it stuck in my subconscious when I wrote the title to this blog – Celebrate the Moments.
In this particular GFIC commercial, a major lifecycle milestone was celebrated, the birth of a baby. But we don’t have to wait for these infrequent, monumental events to acknowledge our accomplishments. We can all benefit from stepping back and giving ourselves credit for more common and modest events that we are proud up – like the birth of a… painting!
Until the next time!
