When I think of Camp Takodah, which I've been thinking about often because I'm spending a week there starting in a few hours (yay!), I think blue, green, and white.
Blue skies, green trees, white clouds.
Blue lake, green grass, white birches.
Blue camp jackets, green cabins, white candles.
I had that cherished place, and those colors, in mind the last two times I went to my studio. I also had in mind a wish to paint abstractly. As at Blue-and-White Day at Takodah, I could feel strong pulls in opposing directions; sure enough, the tug-of-war played out on my canvas. White won, by the way, in the form of gesso!
Then I felt a loosening, a letting go, a release from needing to play by the rules—in this case, self-imposed rules, for Pete's sake! And setting aside the rules turned out to be enough for me to find my painting voice again.
As one Takodah song goes, We've got the blue and white, and that's enough, rah rah rah!
Abstraction will come in its own good time, and the misfires of my earlier studies will be the campfire fuel for moving in that direction.
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| We've Got the Blue and White 6x6", acrylic on canvas board landscape 2015 |
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