Three awesome humans pulled up at the end of my driveway and I opened the door and popped my face in the car saying hello to them all ,fully decked in Lola attire, art gear in hand. We arrived on location and began to set up, getting prepared and setting the tone for the evening of events. The first DJ started up the night with beautiful beats and as I sauntered around the dance floor feeling out the night, I was taken in by the way the young man waved his hands around to the combinations of rhythmic electronic music. I am thinking at this moment about the way each DJ mixes their music and moves to it and how I find it such a beautiful scene to witness. From the way they put their transitions together to the way they look up and out into the room to make sure that everything is in harmony. I think it truly is a craft of its own measure, each Dj and set as individual and purely expressive as the songs they choose to mix. The next DJ takes the room and transforms it into another state. I have been painting all the sounds i am hearing, trying not to influence the canvas but to become part of it. The colors of the night being clearly transferred through the brush, I stop only on occasion to take in more and let my hands do as they please. Giving into the magic , breathing it in and out onto the canvas, I keep looking up and around to see the crowd letting themselves get lost in it all. Everyone expressing themselves through movement. The beautiful swaying of bodies and flowing limbs and they all just become the music. Then the final DJ of the night comes on and immediately I watch his body moving in unison along with the room and he plays and plays. The energy in the room picks up even more and we all just release all of the winter tension together. The aches and pains of being held so tightly from the cold and long dark nights start to let go. He talks to the crowd with his dancing and arms waving high in the air and is smiling and enjoying it all as much as we are. I feel the energy coming to a peak and jump up on the stage and dance beside him. I am bouncing up and down with my bunny ears on for the Easter occasion and then the music cuts out and leaves us all standing there laughing. The crew is scurrying around trying as fast as possible to get it going again and we joke about having too much fun . The technical issue gets resolved quickly and the motion of the room starts to get back into full swing. He sings to us and rocks out wholeheartedly to the remixed version of the song Fast Car by Tracy Chapman. It feels hot in the room and we are all just sweaty and spent and so happy to be there. I realize at that moment that this whole event is definitely what I call success. Combining the art of sound and vision together always makes me feel like I have helped to create something positive in the world. We end the night on a great note and are all pleased with what we have worked together to create, right from the set up to the sound , painting and dancing, to the pleasant thank yous and well wishes for the night.
I walked up the street from my home and a few blocks over to the Sanctuary Theatre last night. The air was chilly as I stepped up onto the concrete steps of the building that I was about to paint in. I smiled and yelled "SANCTUARY!", in my head. Once inside, I saw that there were only maybe three people there . I scouted the place for familiar faces and found them backstage. I took time to catch up with them and settle in and it wasn't long before everyone began to stream in. Artists from Saint John were as diverse as the arts. After the place filled up with spectators, all of us artists who were competing together were called back stage to get the details and a quick, overall debrief. There was some cute nervous chatter amongst the artists and we all went out to the area that we were to paint in and set up at our stations. The set up is four canvases on easels back to back in a circle, with tables to the left and right for the paints and water to be set on. There were plates with paper towel and a small water pitcher of water with old color stains inside the jug from previous painters . The palette to my right is full of many colors and I know I am going to use my large brush first to lay the ground base. I am not nervous at all. I am quite calm inside, surprisingly. There is a track by Queen playing in the huge room amongst the human chatter and I just want to paint.The room is cathedral shaped, probably to amplify the sound for music and voice projection, as it is a theatre. It is dark except for the light over my head; it is so bright. Spotlights are on all of the artists and their canvases. The man who is coordinating the Art Battle starts the countdown after a speech about art stuff and details, introductions. We all enjoy our moments of recognition and fame. Some of us wave, some bow and courtesy and some of us wave our hand like a queen and spin for all to see ( that would be me). I pick up my paper towel as the the second countdown commences....3...2..1.. and go. I pick up my brush and look at the colors on the palette that I have chosen. Black, that is perfect to start with. I swirl and swipe and scoop and swipe and swirl. Stroke...stroke...fluffy swirls...new color....sound in my ears...I realize I am smiling, laughing almost. Fat bottom girls is playing on the sound system. My friend comes up from behind me and says, "great job", and walks away. The response I should have said..."isn't it tho". Then the Led Zepplin begins to play, and I am now in complete bliss. It's my first time painting to Zepplin, which just so happens to be my favorite music. I love the orchestra, the intensity and, oh, I just love that voice and the way they play. Once again, my friend sneaks up behind me like an apparition and says "it's beautiful", and I turn to him and say, " I wouldn't know, I can't see it, I am in it". I'm sooooo in it. Painting, to me, is exactly like falling in love. Thirty second warning is given, so I sign the bottom corner of the canvas... 10...9...8..7.........3...2...1 andddd brushes down. We all smile and breath. I give out a few high fives to my fellow competitors and stand back to look at what I have just created in complete amazement. I think " Yeh, I would hang it on my wall". The next few rounds take place and the sea of faces keep smiling at me saying good job, as we all rotate around the round after round of talented and beautiful humans who I had the pleasure of enjoying time with. I smile and say thanks it was fun :) |