About twenty years ago, my then teenaged son purchased a moped. The first time he took it out to ride was after a rainy day. When he walked in the house after the ride he was covered in mud, and when he smiled his teeth were covered in mud splatters too. What joy he must have felt as he rode. I still imagine him in my mind riding through those puddles while the mud flew in an arc of earthly joy all around him. The photograph is a favorite of mine, as is the memory.

I had the best time painting these anemones. Although there are quite a few flaws, the painting is full of life and I think captures a bit of the enthusiasm I felt while I painted it. You see…I love to paint. I have decided it does not need to be perfect, my joy will not be diminished by what others may think, or if I deem it perfect or flawed. What matters to me is the GRAND time I had painting it. I hope I smiled as big as my son as I splashed the paint onto the paper.

I wonder if that is why historians think Vincent Van Gogh ingested his paint. I have read more than once that many attribute some of his health problems, physical and mental, to paint being internalized. Perhaps he did not nibble his paint, but loved painting so much he smiled with joy when he painted, and the paint somehow got into his system. Oil paints at that point in time contained many dangerous chemicals and metals. Since I love Van Gogh’s paintings and his words in the numerous letters he wrote to family and friends, I hope this is the case. His joy in creating overrode his caution. By no means is this in any way a fact, just a theory I like to daydream about.

I wish I could paint like Van Gogh, but I will always be me in everything I do, and a Van Gogh I am not. But I do love to create and I do love to paint. If you are interested here is a short step by step video of the creation of my Longwood Anemones. I wish I could have videoed the wild background as I painted. It is wet into wet and was SO much fun to paint.

Longwood Anemones: 12 x 14, Winsor & Newton Watercolors, Arches Hot Press 140 lb Paper

You can find the thread to the April Plant Parade here: April 2014 Plant Parade

Take a look at the gorgeous paintings the other artists have created.