“Taking the World into my Arms,” 6×6, oil on canvas
I was having some trouble in the studio, so I took the advice I recently gave another artist: paint something familiar while you wait for the next inspiration to come. It usually comes when you’re painting, afterall.
So I pulled three figures from a photograph of a second line band at one of the many weddings where I’ve painted and started playing with their shapes and colors on a 6×6 canvas.
In her poem “When Death Comes” Mary Oliver writes,
“When it’s over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.”
I like to think of this particular band as commemorating the marriage Oliver describes.