Rescued

This work is on my wife’s fabric scraps and two rope baskets that she made. When I built the canvas, I immediately saw a face in it but I didn’t want to paint an easy cartoon-like face on it. As I was researching ideas, I came upon an image of a rescued orphaned baby chimpanzee that just made me smile. It turns out that the baby chimp was so happy to be rescued that it couldn’t stop smiling; a perfect image to interpret on canvas! The goofy face that I saw when I created the canvas I felt needed to be included as well so I superimposed the two images together. It reinforced the “happy” for me. This is one of the series of thirteen small paintings that I have been challenging myself to complete faster. I have already been embracing my native sloppy personality by leaning into my messy style of painting and this is a great example of that. I’ve discovered that I am capable of creating an identifiable image without having to beat myself up attempting to paint in a painstakingly precise photorealistic manner. As much as I enjoy many hyper photorealistic works, I do not enjoy emulating that process. I want to not only create works that bring joy but I want to be more joyful in creating them. This is a perfect example of what happens when I create in a joyful space.