"I don't paint and I don't draw!" declared the diminutive 87 year old woman slowly walking into my art class.
"I took an art class once in school" she continued defiantly, "We had to draw an apple. I coloured mine orange. The art teacher told me: There's no such thing as orange apples. I never took a class again." She glared at me.
I smiled and said, "Welcome to my class. Today we're painting orange coloured apples."
Her look clearly said "You're crazy!" however, she sat down and said "Well, I don't know how to use paint..."
She spent the next half hour meticulously creating her orange coloured apple, on a plate with a geometric design, debating non-stop about whether to add more fruit or change the plate design, and berating the tremor in her hands.
When she was done, she said, "Hah! That old teacher is the apple, and the design is pins sticking into her."
She stood up and announced, "Here, I'm done with this. I don't want it anymore." She made her way slowly to the door, and turned and looked at me.
"That was ok. I'll see you next time."
Some art needs to be created just to get it out of our system, to remove blockages, to get the energy moving, to get the creative juices flowing if you will. That's the art I put up in my studio, to remind me that there are days where the paint is too clumpy or too runny, the planned composition just doesn't work big on canvas, some area is overpainted and my muse has taken an unscheduled trip to Maui. That may be the right moment to paint my "orange coloured apple", just to change the energy of the moment, so that there can be a "next time"!
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