Sometimes creativity is a combination of ideas that come together to make a new creation. Thing rumble around in your brain and at just the right moment they all come together and waalaaah (this is the American translation of the French word voilà) something new appears. I had these baby elephants in a picture book that I’ve been working on but they were not combined on the page.
My daughter-in-law (which they are all my daughters seeing that Dave and I had no girls) asked quite a while ago if I could paint a painting for the kids room. I said sure. The thought went in and out of my brain. When I asked what we could get the grandkids for Christmas, this year, my daughter said, “I know you’re busy but would you have time to do that painting of an elephant?”
When it’s just the right moment, the idea won’t rest and you just have to paint. And so “Elephants On Parade” came into creation. I had a great compliment from one of my students in my watercolor class. She had been to Africa and seen baby elephants at play, and she thought I had captured in my painting that playfulness she had witnessed in Africa. You create the art and then hopefully it brings joy and happiness to those who view it.