Meditative Lines

In order to be a nice person, I frequently NEED to work with color. It's my way of calming my mind. But sometimes I'm in a hotel or an AirB&B or staying with family, so I have to be creative about being creative. For example, now I'm staying with my daughter whose house has just been remodeled, and the best place to paint is obviously in the brightly lit kitchen at the long, wide, very white, center island. Of course I WILL NOT let myself leave a drop of paint anywhere, not even in the sink.

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I prep my 18x24in sheets of synthetic paper with a coat of acrylic paint in the cold garage and let it dry out there. Then I tape it to a slightly larger piece of stiff cardboard. I make my lines with what's left of the acrylic markers my granddaughter received last Christmas. The results are mixed. But I have been very absorbed while making these, and that was my primary objective.

This morning, the whole family participated in line-making as they prepared their breakfasts. I bet it becomes one of my go-to collaborative art initiatives. I'm out to prove that using color is good for the soul, or the brain, or both, and it doesn't have to be complicated or messy.