Gathering Blue

A gallerist friend asked if I might be interested in painting a photo of a chair that she had. There was no deadline, nor any size stipulations. Just do what you'd like. Then she mentioned she wasn't going to tell me where the photo came from. I was intrigued and curious, but trusted her, so I accepted the challenge with joy.

 Since the photo's origin was a mystery, I played with changing the colors. The three color studies I painted failed. The blues in the original photo seemed best, so I started with that blue. By adding a golden light to warm the window, wall, chair and floor, the scene became inviting. 

By adding natural shapes outside the window and to the shadows inside, the scene became relaxed. I added some other things and took away some things to alter the image slightly. 

Once finished, I observed that the chair seemed to be focusing on the light. It is as if it had absorbed a holy kind of peace and presence, inviting the viewer to come sit a while in this chair and enter its rest and calm. 

Later, I found out the chair was designed by another artist in that gallery. He liked and felt honored by the painting. Isn't that a lovely story of artists supporting artists?