Yes, I did. On purpose. I created art just to match my sofa.
Mind you, I've spent the better part of 40 years trying not to do just that.
Like many of you, I was raised with the idea that "Good Art Does Not Have To Match Your Sofa", an admonition espoused by all of my art professors, and the majority of my fellow artists along the way. It was made even more weighty because the phrase was usually said with a nose tilted slightly upward, so as to make the speaker appear taller and therefore more intelligent. An eye roll topped off the ensemble.
For years I've looked for an art piece that I could live with that also looked comfortable above my couch. It's a darn big wall and, frustratingly, nothing seemed to work for very long - mostly because the admonition to avoid "matching" echoed in my head. To hang anything that carried the same muted tones of ochre, rose, green and blue woven into the fabric of my furniture seemed to be worthy of 40 lashes with a Thomas Kinkaid paintbrush.
Well, to heck with that. I gotta live with my couch, my wall, and myself.
Well, to heck with that. I gotta live with my couch, my wall, and myself.
I made a play date with my paints. I shrugged off my "serious artist" attitude and spent several hours creating a piece just for me, my wall and my sofa.
Three hours, 8 canvases, 6 colors of cheap acrylic paint and a really good time later and I've got a pretty fantastic spread of canvas on my wall. It's a mix and match set. When I get tired of the current arrangement, I'll simply shuffle them like a fat deck of cards and re-hang in a new way. Ooh, I can hardly wait.
© 2010 P Scarborough Meditation in 8 Squares 24x54"oil on canvas
My personal favorite-
© 2010 P Scarborough Meditation 5 12x12"oil on canvas
Or, no, maybe this one-
© 2010 P Scarborough Meditation 7 12x12"oil on canvas
Er mmmmmmnno, this one...
© 2010 P Scarborough Meditation 8 12x12"oil on canvas
I matched my sofa and I'm pretty darned happy with it.
Learn to live with it. I will.
7 comments:
Hey Patty! This is so cool. I just did the same thing more or less! I had my room re-done, paneling taken off, ceiling smoothed and then none of my work seemed to be just right. So I got out my acrylics and painted an abstract for over the fireplace AND the sofa. What is remarkable here is that the paintings over the sofa sort of mimic your idea. I did 6 small canvases pushed together and then put them up with 3" space between each one.
GREAT MINDS AND ALL THAT....
Great minds - absolutely!! Every time I look at my new artwork I smile. Now I'm looking at other spots around my house to paint for!
This is along the same lines as calling commission work "commercial" and condemning it as something that serious artists don't do. All art is shaped by outside pressures: there's no such thing as "pure" art.
We should all be so lucky to have such an inspiring couch!
Thanks for stopping by Gwenn. We artists are so hard on each other, beating each other- and ourselves - up with opinions that truly have no validity.
The more I create, the thicker skin I develop!
OOOHHH!!! Abstract no less now. Seriously, the delightful thing is that you (we artists) realize that joy and freedom are not contradictory. That we can be free and happy. (It looks really fantastic.)
OK, I might have gone overboard, I created 2 paintings to hang in my bathroom to match my sower curtains...
Mmm, no, I'd say overboard would be painting the walls to look like shower curtains...
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