… with envy.
I was recently in a gallery and stopped to admire a family of misty landscapes. They were all pretty big – like 3’ x 4’ pieces. They were eye catching and moody. Some were very calming and I realized that it was the choice of color that impacted me along with the placement of the “horizon line”.
These works were smooth in their transitions – no blotchy brush work to be found. That’s a skill.
It’s a skill I haven’t practiced much.
So I tried it. Let me tell you, I’m gonna need more practice. It’s not easy work. There’s a skill to how you load the paint on the brush and how you handle the brush – something that I’ll need more practice with for sure. Honestly, it could also be the choice of brush used…
I painted “Green” with this tongue in cheek idea that I was “Green with Envy” of the painters that had created such lovely pieces.
While I painted, the song, “It’s Not Easy Being Green” came into mind.
I love the muppets. Their bits on Sesame Street were formative for me. Seriously.
When I was a little older and we moved out of the boondocks, we got cable TV and I fell in love again through the Muppet Show.
In any event, I remember Kermit the Frog’s rendition of the song:
“It’s Not Easy Being Green”
It’s not that easy being green;
Having to spend each day the color of the leaves.
When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold-
Or something much more colorful like that.
It’s not easy being green.
It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things.
And people tend to pass you over ’cause you’re not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water-
Or stars in the sky.
But green’s the color of Spring.
And green can be cool and friendly-like.
And green can be big like an ocean, or important like a mountain, or tall like a tree.
When green is all there is to be it could make you wonder why, but why wonder why?
Wonder, I am green and it’ll do fine, it’s beautiful!
And I think it’s what I want to be.
And maybe that’s what I needed to learn from this painting; I can admire the work of other people and not have to aspire to their work… I can just do my own thing and be ok.
