Anita Marci's "Lyrical Leaves I and II" Paintings

  

  

Pillow Case Fabric Reference

     These paintings are titled "Lyrical Leaves I and II" and they are three feet wide by five feet high.  This was a very exciting and challenging commission.  I was given a fabric swatch (see above) to work with. Well, actually it was a pillow case. The client selected the two original studies painted with a monochromatic (single color) palette of green.  My challenge was to redesign the color palette for the art and make it work with the bedding.  The room was huge and as you can see there was a very large flat screen TV to contend with.  The paintings had to be large enough to accommodate the wall and the TV.

      I set to the work of redoing the art.  It sure was a challenge. Sometimes the art just falls out of me as smooth as could be and other times, I must repaint the art several times. These paintings required three additional studies before I felt I had achieved the goal.  I never settle. No matter what. This is a rule I adopted for myself and my art many moons ago.  Believe me, there are many times when I want to settle, but I always dig deeper inside of me until there is that little twinge I get in my gut that tells me that I am there.

     One of the reasons I feel that I am so successful, is the ability to determine when a painting is good, bad or just unfinished.  Many artists struggle with this determination. Lucky for me, I have a great gut instinct to rely on. I am very grateful for this gift.

     So, then I went to show the client the finished studies. He said the words I strive to always hear: "You nailed it- they are perfect!!"

     We settled on a price and a delivery schedule and off I went to paint the big paintings.  That's when the real fun started.  First of all the color mixes were difficult. The more colors there are in a mix the more difficult it is.  These were very complicated mixes. I persevered and got them all mixed. It is also challenging to gauge the amount of paint to mix. Well, I kept running out of paint. The canvas was a little different then I was used to and the paint seemed to be sucked right into the fabric. By some miracle I finished the pieces, had them stretched and then delivered them.  So very happy to complete this project. Another happy customer!!