Representational Paintings

#3. Wild Time

20"x24" 3/98 Oil on Canvas

At this time I was excited with my new direction. I felt that there was a whole lot of new energy trying to come through, but it was all so new to me, and felt that I needed some loosening up in my approach to allow it to come through, but didn’t quite know how to do it. One day, I was in the bookstore, and I ran accross a book called "Life, Paint and Passion"; how to let go and create from your subconscious. It practically leaped off the shelf and said "Margaret! This is for you!!" So I brought it home and read it immediately, and experimented with letting images flow out. Or just forgetting about making "images" - just play with color. This painting is the first abstract. It was very novel to me to be doing abstract painting - if I wasn’t shown this new direction, I would be a realist painter painting landscapes, figures and still-lifes, and always thought that if I ever was to do abstracts, I would never be taken as seriously as I needed to be. So I had a lot of expectations to give up to do this.

With this painting, the floodgates of creativity burst opened, and I could see an endless well of imagery that was there for me. It gave me such a great sense of peace.