history in the house

Maybe it is because my husband is reading The True Life of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots and I am almost done with the 800 page 17th century romance novel, Forever Amber, that has inspired me to recently feel the urge to:

A) Shine my silver (who voluntarily does this today? Ugh...not sure what is wrong with me):

And B):

Begin painting a piece depicting what I think the rebellious and daring Amber St. Clare may have looked like after she recovered from the plague.  I am a firm believer that artists are inspired by their subconscious and I often times will be mid-way through a painting and figure out where it came from.

Lately I have had an obsession with combining funky shapes, colors, patterns and modern elements with traditional subjects. 

Amber enjoying the sweet scent of roses in contrast to what will be a modern, graphic backdrop of colors and forms.  When I took a Summer en plein air painting course at The Torpedo Factory years ago my instructor emphasized just throwing color on the canvas and going from there.  So, I'm just throwing color on right now...we'll see what happens to Amber as I work.

20" x 20"...acrylic on cotton and I am sure I will use pencil, crayon and a hodge podge of other things