You remember when you were a kid, laying under the sky and looking at the clouds? You’d see all these fantastic figures, creatures, and things in them? Morphing and fading away in minutes, and so exhilarating every time…
As kids we are familiar with whimsy. We are it. We love it. And too often we grow out of it, in the process of adulting.
Well, I never stopped looking for forms and stories in the clouds; and when I paint a cloudy sky, I often hide some whimsy in plain sight, things that are not obvious, but once you know, you can see them for ever just by getting close enough. And to be honest with you, I start by looking for them to appear vaguely while I paint clouds, and when they show up, I accentuate them gently.
Most of my oldest fans and collectors know this, I believe, but it is not something widely nown about my work, because I rarely talk about it.
Lately I was talking with a friend who just discovered this recently and she loved the idea, and the discovery of some of these hidden images I shared with her. She said: “You have to tell people, it’s so much fun!”
So this post will be just about this hidden whimsy that I add, most often than not in the clouds (and not always), but that you may have ignored until today.
Here are a few of them… If you own some of my paintings, you might have fun looking for a possible subliminal image inside the scene became familiar to you…!
“Inside Out, Quantum Journey” being a very large work, with a huge stormy sky was the perfect playground and I placed several of them there.
The first to show up was an angel, then came a hare, running wildly though the thick of the clouds, and two little fishes, kissing came floating by.
Are you having fun yet? 🙂
There is also a cool cat (or a Sphinx) showing its royal self over the grasses in “XOXO from Maui”, not to mention that the grasses themselves are writing XOXO with stems and leaves…
The lastest one. In “Promise of rain” that I just completed last week, you can see the bottom part of a face blowing clouds in the sky. Is it Aeolus, the god of wind? Could be…
There are more of course, and there will be more in the future! I’m sure you will discover some on your own when you scrutinize details in my most elaborate pieces… Let me know if you do!
I hope this was a fun way for you to discover another aspect of my work
If you like this please leave a comment or share this post with your circles… They might like it too!
You can see progress being made on current works and much more, by following me on Instagram @craigemmeline.
Take care and see you soon.
Love
Emmeline