Design #1137

This is an excerpt from a watercolor painting I did in the early 80’s. I was doing the starving artist thing at the time, living in a small shed behind my parents house. Sleeping all day, drinking and painting all night. During this time, I did a work I called “Candies Marbles and Lace”. I was into photo realism and this style and this particular painting was quite time consuming. I finished very late one night and took it into the house to look at it under a more subdued lighting than that of my studio. I was really pleased with it but exhausted, so I left it on the easel in my mother’s living room and headed off to bed.

The next afternoon I awoke and went towards the house to get a cup of coffee and take another look at what the night before I had thought was a masterpiece. As I rounded the corner into the living room, I was shocked to see that the easel was empty. At the time my mother was a seamstress for a very affluent clientele and one of her customers had seen the painting and liked it so much she had bought it on the spot. My mother was my greatest supporter as well as an excellent saleswomen. I was of course happy to have a little cash, but for the last 25 years I have yearned to see that painting again. Paintings are like children, usually I was able too spend a small amount of time with them before they went on the be appreciated by their new owners, but not the case with “Candies Marble and Lace.

After years of wanting to see that painting again, I decided to do another rendition of it, very large and in acrylic this time. While it turned out to be a great painting, it did not have the character of that first watercolor. I also did another version digitally using Coreldraw not to long ago, but again, still not the work of art the original was. At least not in my mind. So to Janie, a customer that snatched one of my children before they had grow up, I sure would like to see that painting again.

You can take a look at the digital version here.