Written by: Elaine Chatwin
One of the questions I am most often asked about my paintings is “where do I get my inspiration from?” My answer to that is “everywhere and in every moment.”
Some moments are large and intense and take a long time to process in a painting. I wrote about that sort of inspiration in my last blog when I described how the 9/11 attack in New York stimulated the mixed media painting “Raphael and the River of Innocents”.
Other moments are more fleeting and are capsules of joy that spark a fun and joyful response. Last week a friend brought me a wonderful gift of his homemade applesauce. A lovely moment, and one that reminded me of other gifts… of baskets of apples or even apple pies. What does this have to do with painting?
On Friday mornings I travel to the Fort Langley site of UCoL to spend the morning painting with a wonderful group of friends. Each time one of our group members will bring an assortment of objects to prepare a still life. The still life on one particular morning was a colourful arrangement of apples and baskets and a glass of apple juice. Apples! My creative juices were flowing and the joyful little painting called “Three Apples and a Glass of Apple Juice” blossomed on the paper before me.
So many happy moments and memories involving apples and in gratitude I thank God with “Three Apples and a Glass of Apple Juice”.