Patricia Scarborough Art: Live with it

Friday, September 17, 2010

I Matched My Sofa

Dear Readers,

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.

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.

My personal favorite-

Or, no, maybe this one-

Er mmmmmmnno, this one...

I matched my sofa and I'm pretty darned happy with it.

Learn to live with it. I will.