Today, in Indianapolis, is dreary and rainy. The kind of day when you are happy to sit inside with a hot cup of tea and a good book. To bring some smiles, I thought I would share a funny story. In 2007, the year I started painting, I was working a lot with Yupo and primary colors. Sandy Ezell was teaching a class in Experimental Watercolor and she taught us how to lay down a thin pool of water, drop in fairly thick color and then make a print from a second sheet of Yupo. This gave you two mirror images to work with and as most of you know Yupo provides amazing minglings of color and extraordinary effects. I decided after doing a series of seven paintings with primary colors to work with dark earthtones and Payne’s Gray. As soon as I started painting, a title popped into my head and I couldn’t shake it. I called the painting Dance with the Devil.
Dance with the Devil
Now the funny story goes like this. My grandson Ian would like to be an artist. He has had a painting shown in the Indiana Statehouse with other young artists. He is also a high functioning autistic with Asperger’s Syndrome so he can be a bit obsessive and talk about things “out of the blue”. He was fascinated with this painting. When he began to talk about his grandma and her dance with the devil and how he loved dance with the devil and on and on the school became concerned. The teacher talked to the principal and the principal called my daughter. Everything was straightened out very quickly and the principal had a good laugh. Just goes to show the power of a painting!
Linda I love this one! What a cute story about your grandson.
It’s really cool that he’s so into art. That makes my heart sing. Have a great day hon.
During summer break my grandsons frequently come to stay with me on Fridays. At the end of the summer we started doing an art activity every Friday. What fun!
What an explosion of color! Betcha that, and the painting’s name, were just magnets for a little boy. That’s a great story, Linda!
And Ian is so literal that it you wonder what he really thinks Grandma does in her spare time!
This looks like a dance with the devil for sure! I, like your Grandson, am fascinated by the explosion of color in this, something that I have admired in your work. Fantastic story!
You are the master at making wonderful art with your granddaughter. I hope I get a chance next summer to use some of your projects! (You never know when they’re going to think their too grown up for family time.)
Love the painting and the story
Thank you Helen. Thank you for visiting!
OMG! That is a very funny story! It’s a good thing they believed your daughter or you might have been hauled off to the hoosegow!
I can see why your grandson would have become fixated with this painting. The colors are great and it’s strong and has movement.
Now stop dancing with that devil and start working on your next painting. Called “spending the night with the Devil?”
It really is almost scary to think about what the school thought before talking with my daughter. Yikes!
Linda, I always enjoy reading your bio with each painting. I think this piece has a great title and I enjoyed the story about your grandson. Your work always interests me. You move from beautiful classical landscapes to abstract prisms of colour which I find intriguing. I believe you to be a great thinker as well as a great painter.
Thank you Keith! Your kind words mean a lot to me. I hope I deserve them.
Oh I like the energy of “Dance with the devil”. Ian’s school story reminded me of a go round with my daughter’s social studies teacher in the eigth grade at a school open house event. Rachel had shared a “cultural” family story about how her Korean step-grandmother had “blessed” our trees with beer, beans and rice. It was apparently beyond the teacher’s scope of experience and –well, you know the drill. LOL.
I always hope these experiences help our teachers “grow”.