Impressionist Pansies, 16x20

Impressionist pansies, 16x20 , oil on wrapped canvas

I finally forced myself to paint today. I've been in a real slump lately, and the only thing that helped me paint this was my Abba music. My favorite Abba song is Chiquitita, though it's a little silly that I picked that one since I've never really had any close girlfriends. Click the link and check out this gorgeous slide show, accompanied by the Chiquitita lyrics. You can also listen in Spanish, which is the version I personally prefer, but it's up to you! Thanks to whoever put this together!

Anyhow, I had to laugh when I went rummaging around in my paint box looking for dioxide purple. I almost never use that color and I had a tough time finding it! I guess it reminds me of my years in Catholic school as a young girl. Purple was the color of Lent and the connotation in my mind was of sorrow, though actually it's about atonement for one's sins. Truthfully, Easter is the best of all Christian holidays and If I remember correctly the priests switch their vestments to white from the purple on Easter morning. Go figure. At any rate, I rarely paint with purple, though I do love magenta, which is purple's warm side.

Not that any of this has anything to do with the above painting. Every now and then it's good to change your palette. These cool colors work in my present frame of mind, obviously. Hopefully I'll wake up tomorrow and have a fervent desire to paint a big red and orange landscape. We'll see...