About the Painting: Timidity Enters the Maze

Timidity Enters the Maze
acrylic, varnish, and glitter on canvas
28" x 22"
2008

In honor of the fact that I just mailed this painting off to Denver, CO, I thought I'd write about it today. It was made in 2008, close to when I graduated from college.

The idea for this painting had been in the works for quite some time.

Over the years leading up to the it, I became obsessed with this night time scene on a journal that someone gave me years before (it's the second image when you follow the link.) I loved it, but art school pushed me to make a different type of artwork, so it wasn't until after college that I gave it a try.

I was listening to a lot of Smashing Pumpkins back then, too. The image on the journal and their music put me in a similar mood- melancholy, pensive.

The maze in the image also made me think of the scene in The Sound of Music, when Maria dances with the Captain out in the garden. It's long been one of my most favorite cinematic scenes, and it is most directly tied to the composition of the painting.

So in 2008, all of these things came together at a time when I was very worried about where my life was heading- career-wise, in my friendships, relationships, mentally, spiritually. So I made this painting as a reminder to move forward into the unknown, in spite of my timidity.

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If you like this painting, I have prints of it, and they are for sale here. Let me know if you'd like another size, and I can make it happen. Don't be timid.