If Herons Dream

Sometimes I start a painting and am so surprised when it is finished that I am unable to claim it. It doesn't really feel like my work.

When I left this piece in the studio last night, I was thinking it would probably end up washed off or torn up, because I really couldn't recognize it as my own art. Also, I don't think I really understood all the levels of the painting. However, this morning when I stepped into my studio to view it with fresh eyes, I felt quite lured into the painting. There is a story here, one of mystery and outer-worldliness.

When I started this piece, it was all about design. I love high or low horizon lines, compressing a lot into a little space like when a photo or painting has 3/4 sky and 1/4 land or visa versa. So in my design, I put the herons down low even though they are the subjects of the painting, leaving a lot of space to play with above them. But then there is the dilemma of what one can do to make the large area interesting and tell more about the piece.

If Herons Dream
Transparent Watercolor, 30 x 22

As I worked on the painting yesterday, I saw the upper area as a backdrop to the life of these birds. The sky is their territory and this painting is about that. It is also about time and our predecessors in the Northwest both animal and human. As I added the stamps I've created after viewing pictographs and petroglyphs, my thoughts about this piece became deeper and almost mystical. I named the piece If Herons Dream, because I wanted the birds to have a collective consciousness allowing them to live both in the present and the past.