I hate marigolds. I know, I know, hate is a strong word but I do. Actually it is not the marigolds fault that someone decided to take a once beautiful flower that sat plumply atop its long stem, into a laboratory, do things to it’s genetic make up and viola, make a short stubby flower out of it. What’s up with that? Who thought it would be a good idea? Don’t get me wrong, short and stubby is wonderful but not in a marigold. Have you ever seen a harlequin marigold? Now that is a marigold. That is why last autumn, when I made this piece with the marigold, it was a leap of faith. I was doing a lot of leaping last year, in fact I am still leaping but anyway that is another story. So, I was flipping through one of my many books of flowers looking for inspiration and was being drawn back to the page with the marigold on it. I wanted to deny the marigold. No, I said to myself, I can’t draw THAT on MY piece, I hate marigolds. Then it happened… I saw the layer upon layer of small petals in brilliant golden orange so precisely organized in concentric circles that made up this pouf like flower. The stems had fine hairs, furry and soft. The leaves jagged and dangerous looking. Such a complicated flower, its beauty up until that moment was, well, hidden to me. I did it, I drew the marigold. I looked closely at the the thing that I hated, in fact I did not just draw the marigold, I etched the marigold into the clay and lovingly applied the golden orange color to its petals. I know it is obvious but must I admit it? O.k. I will, I learned to love the marigold.
6 comments:
:) beautiful etch!!!!!!!
I know what you mean about marigolds. I think for me, it was the colour. I just can't wear golden orange. Then I saw the film Monsoon Wedding...the vibrancy of thousands of marigolds at an Indian wedding...now I think of colourful saris and spices whenever I see a marigold.
I've learned one thing with you today...no, two things.
1st - I didn't know marigolds were a lab product.
2nd - I have to learn not to judge things from a negative perspective so much and give them another chance. After all there is beauty all around us. We just have to look with a different pair of eyes or from another angle.
bjs
paula
And I love the marigold now too... cheers, gracia
Looking more deeply at that which repels, finding the beauty in that. Nice story, beautiful piece-
How do you do this etching? I see that you have used a sharp tool to scrape out a thin line. Where does the grey color tint come from? Do you apply something before the glaze, or in the case of the marigold, since you painted the glaze over top, is it a thin bead of thin wash or glaze that travels through the channels left by the scraping? I would like to figure it out. The drawings are beautiful in their organic roughness, and yet they also seem perfectly drawn like that's the way they look, without color.
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