Tranquility

24” x 36”; Acrylic on canvas; 2019

I adore this painting. This was my first time working on a larger scale with fluid art, and was also the first time I used multiple cups of layered paints to cover a single surface, so I anticipated some “trial and error” before coming up with something I loved. I prepared all of the paints, poured them layer by layer into 16 small cups, placed the cups around the canvas, took a deeeeeeeeep breath, and turned the cups over one by one. I watched in amazement as the colors flowed over the canvas, the gold shimmering subtly over the colors like little spots of sunshine, cells forming in just the right places. I couldn’t believe that I had gotten the effects I was hoping for on THE FIRST TRY! I happily set the painting aside to dry, and left to run errands.

I’d been gone for about an hour when I got a call from my husband.

“Sooooooooo, you know the painting you have on your desk drying?” My heart sank.

“Yes….?”

“Mira just set her sippy cup on it…….”

When I got home, I ran right to the studio and surveyed the damage. Sure enough, right there on my perfect painting, was a sippy cup-shaped circle. For a moment, anger washed over me. Why THIS painting? I huffed and puffed and mixed up another cup of paint that I re-poured over the spot and stared at it, sulking. Then my daughter toddled into the room. “I see?” she asked in her sweet little two-year-old voice. I hoisted her her onto my hip and showed her the painting. She gasped. “So pretty!” she told me. I hugged her, and stepped back and looked at the painting. She was right. It was still pretty. It was different than it had been, but when I looked at the whole picture I didn’t even see the area I’d fixed. When I look at this painting, I remind myself that I need to step back and look at the big picture, and not focus on one spot, and that something doesn’t need to be perfect to still be beautiful.