Window Sill

I am writing this almost six weeks after I painted it, and a lot has happened. It has been described as a lively painting. I hope so! While not consciously trying to paint so, I am mindful that all objects are made up of particles continually in movement. So, I like to think I try to capture this. Plus, I just picked up a brush and started. This is how I paint!

This image takes me back to a holiday in mid-Wales in the summer. We stayed at a Quaker cottage and meeting house, called Dolobran. One morning, I was coming down the stairs into the kitchen when I saw this light coming through the glass, bathing the cut garden flowers in the vase on the sill. I took some photos on my phone to help me remember the scene.

I hadn't painted for some time and remember thinking I didn't make things easy for myself. I like a challenge too. Why not? Still, I was curious to see what would come out of this time together, me, the image on my tablet and the paper and paint. I spent a lot of time taking in the image - the proportions, colours, connections on an A2 paper - before I picked up a brush. Then, I chose the first lot of paints for the grounding. I returned to painting after lunch and took my time over it. How on earth do you do a window frame, keeping the textures and proportions? At the end, I was happy with it. The more I looked at it, the more it grew on me. The reactions of some of my family and friends I shared it with was encouraging. I had really wanted to paint the bright light through the window and I think I have succeeded.

To the friend, who commented that my lively style was coming on, I answered 'two steps forward...', meaning no hurry; still, there are negative voices and I'm dealing with them. I love painting and the time spent on it is precious as well as challenging. And I love it. Yet my friend took me to mean 'competitive'. I didn't mean that. There is no need to compete with anyone. We are all unique. The strange thing is, I initially thought of it as a practice for the real thing. But I'll not do this one ever again. And then, my partner suggested I enter it into a local Open Exhibition (a competition). So, I did and waited...she got in...and I waited to hear and...it has been accepted! I am going to have my first painting on display at a gallery.Whatever happens next, I never thought this would happen to me, despite all the nice, jokey things people say. I have won the competition already, for me, simply by hanging something on a wall.