I want to paint. I have to paint. I have to capture that moment when my eyes, brain and hands merge. It begins with a concept, any concept. Here’s one. I love what yoga does for me because I love the meditative quality to my breath and thoughts.

The simple concept that keeps nagging at me is that there is surely some way to express this ponderous affinity that I have for Asanas, even though I can’t find it yet.   Thought will eventually become practice. I draw it. I change it. I draw it again and again and again. I tweek it. Is my right knee too high? No, that’s really how I sit whether it’s correct or not. I can’t help it. I draw it until I see it with my eyes closed, until I live it, breathe it and can paint it without the use of any reference material. It begins like this:

It won’t matter if this will become a landscape, portrait, still live or something else. In the case shown here, it’s an expression of the peace and serenity I experience from meditation and yoga, transferred into a creative process that is indicative of all of my paintings, and perhaps, all of painting, period. After all, painters paint and go through this process to some degree, always, right? Right.

It then turns into research. How many yoga poses are there? Which ones express how I feel and what I want to convey? Thousands. I spend countless hours pouring through books and looking through images anywhere I can find them. If finally settle on the best and get to work on it. I know I always wear black. Or brown. Never red or blue. It doesn’t matter. They suit or don’t suit what I want to create. I might change my hair. My hair is long when I’m in yoga mode isn’t it? No matter. I make the scene darker, then lighter. I settle on the exact shade to match the mood. My favorite combination when I was growing up, in crayola universe, that is, was always Mulberry and Carnation. I’ve brought them back this time in Terry Ludwig, Sennelier and Schmincke Pastels that I probably purchases at Phoenix  Art Supply, the candy store for artists.

I am inspired by the yoga studios I have known and love. Yoga Blend, Flip Dog Yoga and Yogaphoria, my newest yoga home. I thank them for the inspiration and environment that they provide(d).

Whether it’s a landscape, a series of people or a study of color and light, the end result will always be wrought of research, pondering thoughts and envisioning of the realized creation, practice and inspiration. Here’s what happened with my desire to express the peace and serenity I find in yoga, and the idea of capturing that thought onto canvas.

It’s been a good day.