The bluebonnet... Wild, Texas, Blue (and every color you can think of mixed in). The more I concentrate on them, the more I see how unique and exquisite each one is... not just blue...many colors. Every time I paint them I think... up close you see so many colors... nobody will believe this is a bluebonnet I'm painting. But I have to paint what I see. I see so many colors and lines and details. I used to see blue and white with green.
I have been painting lately and wondering "can I paint?" every time. Like, should I be painting with the pursuit of a career, a dream, a desire, a love? I would love to paint for all those reasons. God has given me a gift of drawing and painting. This gift is not my own... my eyes, my hands, my abilities. He has so graciously allowed me this gift. I DID ask for it, and I have been asking for it many times over because I really do love it and I want to remember to be thankful for it and give God the glory. Coloring with crayons came first, then drawing, then painting... although this type of painting is just a couple years old for me. I never took a "painting class". I took drawing classes and art classes, but never concentrated on painting. I did paint in my art classes at school, when I had the choice. I have an old painting of my hand holding a daisy (it's very plain and simple). My high school art teacher left me a note encouraging me to look into all the colors in the daisy... not just the yellow and white. Well, that helped that. I hear that in my mind now 20+ years later and I see it.
So, before I began each painting I ask God to give me the ability again. I then look into what I'm painting and try to see it in a way that I can put on canvas. As I paint, I get excited to see how it is going to turn out. It is usually in my head... but what is on canvas always looks a little different. Sometimes I don't like what comes out and sometimes I do. Either way, I'm putting a lot (not all) of what I do out there, regardless of how I feel about it, in hopes to learn from mistakes and to not be afraid to keep going.
Here are the latest Bluebonnet paintings:
