Vintage Babes - Exhibited at Beach Gallery
I am so honored to have been chosen to exhibit my vintage swimsuit ladies at this years' Annual The Painted Garden art show held at Beach Gallery located in Virginia Beach.
The idea of painting modern girls in vintage swimwear has been taking up residence in my brain for almost two years. This is not uncommon for me because most of my creative inspirations lay dormant for a season or two as I ponder the idea.
This past summer I felt motivated to do a small study painting after watching my daughter go through her first season of competitive swimming, and that validated my desire to create this collection. When I received an invite to apply for the Gardens by the Sea art show, I knew this would be the perfect event for their debut.
I began creating this collection the first of this year, but to say it got off to a rough start was an understatement. I had so many ideas of what I wanted to paint that I felt like my vision was cloudy so... I just started painting. Not once but twice I changed directions resulting in me frustratingly wiping my canvas clean and starting over. All that time spent completing two paintings just to start over again was hard to accept and had me questioning myself (I may or may not have cried a bit), but when I saw what eventually evolved, the beauty from the so called "wasted time" turned my tears of self pity into tears of joy.
Creativity is a slow and growing process that can be very emotional, but also very beautiful if you just trust it. There is no wasted time because it's through those unsuccessful efforts that teach us the most about who we are or who we are not. In this particular case, it brought me to a place where the clouds lifted giving me a clear vision for this collection of 1950's swimsuits and big beach hats.
I only have these three completed and ready for the exhibit, but I have plans of continuing to develop this collection with a goal for a pre-summer release where the originals and prints will be available. Until then, these three ladies will be available for purchase during the exhibit via Beach Gallery.
Visit Beach Galleries Facebook to learn more about this event.