The Wiry Line of Rectitude, a quote by William Blake caught my attention this morning while reading some in Andrea Rose's  The Pre-Rafaelites.  Ever have one of those days when you're all over the place?  Well, here is my all over the place Sunday morning, with some background to make sense of this article.   Last Thursday a fellow artist and I attended the Maxfield Parrish Exhibit at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento.  Prior to the show, research about Parrish led me to his painting technique, and turned up the volume of my interest about Parrish Blue, the paint color named for him.  He achieved luminosity by applying multiple layers of pigment with oil and varnish.  The exhibit was Prints Only so I've been on the hunt to find some of his original paintings that might be here on the West Coast. That search continues.  To ramp up even more on the research front, I questioned where the Pre-Rafaelites were in the history timeline relative to Parrish.  (Hence the Blake quote name of this article.)  The Pre's were mid-1800's forward, and Parrish was end of 1800's forward.

Is this the way your mind works too?  Because next on the list of all over the place Sunday morning,  my thinking went back to the Network for Wearable Art meeting I attended yesterday.  Couple that with a question from one of my Face Book Friends as to what am I currently working on, and I thought about the upcoming Rachel Clark Ethnic Influences, in which I will participate by honoring my Bohemian heritage. I have a Bohemian shirt in the studio queue, but then I thought about making an Art n Java coat!  You can probably tell that Art 'n Java is high on my favorite's list.  So what about this coat?

Art n Java Girl - This sketch from the 1990's has been sort of my signature for art invites, etc. and now that I again am making wearable art, it's likely an Art n Java coat will be made as an homage to this hip and weird chic. The cup/saucer/spoons are on the lower left, her hands have multiplied from excess caffeine and a musical note is on her sleeve. She's got the moves.

 

Tell me the truth, do you think I've had too much caffeine this morning?  Nah, this is how an artist's mind works.  INFLUENCES.  We all are subject to them, right?  It's what we do with those influences that can turn rectitude into a wiry line.