10 February

sweet unrest



detail of Sweet Unrest by Loretta Grayson  Gouache on cotton rag paper, 200mm x 300mm

I posted about this painting last month, and it's finally finished.  It came together slowly, but I don't mind... working on these small, detailed pieces is the closest thing to meditation for me, so I don't count the hours. 
 
The title comes from one of my favourite Wind in the Willows quotes, but the imagery started coming together after finding this line in Gabriel Garcia Marquez' Love in the Time of Cholera.
 
"... ideas that had often fluttered around her head like nocturnal birds but dissolved into a trickle of feathers when she tried to catch hold of them."


Sweet Unrest by Loretta Grayson  Gouache on cotton rag paper, 200mm x 300mm
They're tricky things, those ideas.  I have some of my best ones when I can't sleep in the middle of night, but capturing them again in the morning can prove to be challenging. 

I posted about bird tracks in my artwork a little while ago, so I was excited to discover the work of Dennis Hlynsky recently.  He creates the most beautiful and fascinating films of bird flight paths.
 

 
More videos and information about his creative process can be found here: