Training Wings – WIP

Opps!

How am I saying yes to yet another benefit? I’m going to blame it on Holly Muñoz, she’s not only a musician and songwriter but she’s a real sweet talker!  She thought it would be fun if the two of us got together and collaborated on a painting and a song for The Imagine Bus Project and their Finding Your Wings event coming up in December.

Finding Your Wings - The Imagine Bus Project

 

 

So we did! We shared poetry (Anders Nilsen, Emily Dickinson, Rabindranath Tagore) and photos of flamingos and angels with pink wings. Something good had to come out all that and so it has! Holly has already recorded a demo of her song Take It Go Flying! sometime between concert hops around the country (it’s SO beautiful!) and I’ve just begun working on Training Wings!

Here are some of the inspirations we drew from:

Pink Feather - Marie Cameron

Photo I took of a  Flamingo of Oakland, loving the soft comfort of its pink feathers.

Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark……….Rabindranath Tagore

Pink winged angels - Marie Cameron

Antique magic lantern slides of Victorian angels with their heavenly pink wings.

Hope is the thing with feathers                                                                                                                       That perches in the soul,                                                                                                                                   And sings the tune without the words,                                                                                                           And never stops at all……………Emily Dickinson

Training wings - WIP - oil Marie Cameron 2014

Sketched in the outlines in oil directly on the canvas.

Training Wings (WIP) 2 oil on canvas 30 x 48 Marie Cameron 2014

Layering thin washes of drippy oil.

Training Wings (WIP) 3 oil on canvas 30 x 48 Marie Cameron 2014

Painting in placement of pink feathers and leather harness.

Training Wings (WIP) 4 oil on canvas 30 x 48 Marie Cameron 2014

Ditching leather harness, it was looking limp and lifeless. A structured one might work but maybe too S&M?

Training Wings (WIP) 5 oil on canvas 30 x 48 Marie Cameron 2014

Going for ribbon sashes, hoping they won’t look saccharine against the barbed wire.

Training Wings (WIP) 6 oil on canvas 30 x 48 Marie Cameron 2014

Building up glazes, I’m looking for a sharp contrast between the dark and dangerous night and the hopeful pair of inviting wings.

Training Wings - Grow a Pair - Marie Cameron 2014

OK, changed my mind again! I needed these wings to feel more self-reliant, like something you grow from within rather than depending on something you need to look outside of yourself for. That’s when I floated the idea of an anatomical heart past Holly – well, she was on her cell in El Paso I think – but she was on board!  Now it makes sense to me and I’m ready to let it dry and think up a new title ’cause “Training Wings” doesn’t cut it anymore!

Grow a Pair! - Marie Cameron - 2014

What  about “Grow a Pair”?

Here’s the save the date for event: Imagine – Finding Your Wings