Blog: Ms Blue

Featured image: Ms. Blue

When you place that first a mark on a blank sheet of watercolor paper or canvas and then place a color, a lot of color or even a little bit of color on that same canvas or sheet of paper, you are being very brave.  Moments before that you had this hesitation, this pause, wondering, "What if it doesn’t work?" What if it is the wrong color? What if I mess this up? What if I have lost my creativity? There are a million, yes a million reasons not to take that first step. When I decided to paint this rabbit blue and then actually took the first step and painted it blue, it was a brave first step. We all know rabbits aren’t blue, but when the mind is in its creative, imaginary mode,  well, anything can happen. So, you take that step. Make that first mark. Place that color. And, then, you worry when you finish it– no one will like it – it doesn’t look like a rabbit. This is when you need to be honest with yourself.

At this moment I usually say, "What difference does it make if I make my rabbit blue, or green or red for that matter, if the work speaks for itself?"– Well, if the rabbit is red it might shout – your work will stand out all by itself and in the end, it may have nothing to do with you anymore. How delightful that moment is, when someone relates to a work like you did when you created it and drew that first mark and placed that first color.

Once your work is recognized as one-of-a-kind, all that worry and hesitation disappears. But being one-of-a-kind does not necessarily make the work art. If a work is “art,” then the work has a lot to do with what the concept of art represents.

For me, “Ms. Blue” represents my love of difference, independence and uniqueness. Ms, Blue screams all these art values. Ms,. Blue represents not only me but, also how I understand the concept of art. The simple orange mark, the green against the blue, a color blue I haven’t used very much, and then standing back and saying she is great, and she represents how I want 2021 and my 2021 rabbits to represent: freshness, rebirth and renewal. My rabbits are like the feeling I get when spring comes. Just a wonderful breath of fresh air. While the artwork, Ms, Blue, may be pleasant to the eye, it is what the work and the concept of art are that counts for me and Ms, Blue is all of that.