Tea, Prints, and Zinnias {a new still life painting}

{Tea, Prints, and Zinnias - 24" x 30" (61 x 76.2 cm) - Oil on Canvas}

A new painting completed this month. Everything was painted from life, including the zinnias... so the bouquet evolved over the several weeks.

This painting was a labor of love, I started blocking it in in early August, working on it occasionally for a few hours here and there, changing the composition a quarter of the way through and revising the vision of the painting. Then in September the drive to complete it took over and I worked on it for two weeks straight, 7-10 hours each day, sometimes going to sleep only to wake in the morning and paint some more.

When it was almost finished, I stopped for a few days, hung it in my living room to figure out what needed to be refined and how best to go about completing it. I find living with a painting for a few days helps crystalize the painting and guides my last decisions.

Because all of my energies were going into this painting, household chores were not getting done, or the minimal to exist were completed. Now that it is finished, it is good to step back and re-engage in the regular aspects of life. Like deciding what to make for dinner and spend some time with friends, maybe watch a movie on TV.

Do you ever find yourself so consumed with a project that all else fades into the non-descript background?

I wonder if this is one of the aspects of creative drive?

What do you think?

Liz