Sometimes They Sneak Up On You

The Quiet One—approximately 20 x 23 inches on four vintage clapboards.

M Y  A R T — Some of my pieces shine from the first touch of brush to wood. They scream and shout their need for life and practically grab the raw materials out of my hands on their way to maturity. Others fight me every step of the way, rejecting the paint, bubbling the paper printouts, giving me splinters, and all manner of problems. In fact my process usually consists of trying to save the piece, during which it becomes so much greater than I imagined in the first place. This one however, was different. 

This piece just kept motoring along, peacefully accepting everything I threw at it, never complaining, and never grabbing the limelight for itself. The paint went on perfectly. The images worked themselves out the first time. The accents practically threw themselves on it from the floor, from out of my print boxes, from out of the paint bottles. Until the very end. Until the last few tiny squares of paper were affixed to it, until the last few stripes of paint dried, until the last sanding and clearcoating was done.

Then it was like a halogen pinpoint spotlight was turned on it. It revealed itself to be one of my favorite pieces at the very end of the process. It came into its own at the last second. For that reason, it became The Quiet One, and was promptly sold and on to its next life in someone else's home, lol. Long Live the Quiet Ones!