OLYMPIA – 36 X 48 INCHES – OIL ON CANVAS
I was in Olympia, Greece last winter with my daughter Jennifer and that little town is one of the places where our beautiful Norwegian Cruise Ship stopped.
I simply loved the place and we had a great time there. I remember my daughter playing with a large black dog that came toward her although what she may have hoped for was to meet a Greek God and not an old Greek dog. We had fun with that one. Small cats also came toward her to play.
Then, I saw this lady hanging her wash in front of her bright yellow wall and I thought that it would make such a lovely painting.
When I tried to paint that wall yellow, it all seemed wrong. I love the color yellow but it wasn’t meant to be there.
I put the painting aside and wouldn’t touch it for a while. I couldn’t make myself get back to it. I hated it. What good could come out of that painting?
Then one day, a thought came to my mind that perhaps the yellow should go but what color would I put there?
I thought of using blue but tried white and that was it. I was now falling in love with the painting.
The boats underneath were simply old parked boats many yards away and in fact, I painted the boats first, not knowing that there would ever be an old lady hanging clothes up above. I know, my paintings or even ideas can seem a little strange sometimes.
But what is underneath all that? What am I trying to say by painting all these strange designs that look a little like what Picasso might have painted. I don’t know. I just did it. Its as simple as that for this artist.
The painting seems to have 3 parts to it. Perhaps the old lady has memories of times past starting at the bottom with a childlike love for abstract art or the freedom to do anything she wanted at the time. The two boats in the center of the painting, could be a reminder of her father and uncles going fishing on the deep blue sea nearby.
And now, she is above all that, enjoying her life just as it is, not wanting to change anything for she knows that “life is precious and much too short.”