Imagination

I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free. ~Michelangelo

Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try! ~Dr. Seuss

I used to think that I had no imagination. I could paint and draw, but only what I could see. I believed myself to be a copiest rather than a creator. Of course I know I have a vivid imagination in my head and I think a lot, which can cause me a great of difficulty, and I can write. (A gift from the Giver of All Things.) I love blogging and can't stay away from it; I love it when thoughts becomes words--amazing how that works. Maybe someday I'll published something. Whadya think, oh you-who-leaves no comment?

Anyway, putting together my portfolio of a lifetime of work has given me perspective on my imagination. I went through a lighthouse painting phase because my late sister loved lights. She had posters and prints and miniatures and models of lighthouses--even some originals by me. After she died, I went on an excursion around the Puget Sound (WA) to photograph lighthouses to paint. This one, Point Wilson is still an active light operated by the Coast Guard near Port Townsend where my sister loved to camp. On this trip, it was an overcast day and I found every lighthouse socked in by fog where I couldn't even see the water. So I had to use my imagination. This painting is Puget Dawn. I had to make up the sunrise, which is not easy since, being a night owl, I see very few of them. I do remember reading that sunrises are cooler in color than sunsets. Then I had to think about the effect of the sky on the water and landscape and about how the sky is reflected on the dark side of the buildings and on the windows. Where the sunrise is hitting the building the light is warm with yellows in it and on the shadow side the colors are in the blue range. I have learned that paintings don't have to be true to life, only believable. This is a very exciting painting. Now if I can channel all my imagination thus.