by Yvonne Callaway

For many people, a new year generates new starts: new exercise programs; new and better eating habits. Not me. I figured I’d clear out the old: finish aged works hanging about the studio, taunting me. I decided to be free of them. And playful!

This work was started three years ago, on a piece of unstretched canvas. I painted two blue eggs in yellow egg cups with chicken feet. No idea why. Months later I painted a landscape in the background. I kept working on the chicken feet of the egg cups, but could never quite get them quite right.

That flat canvas became an escape from whatever serious work I was developing, letting me play and focus on something completely different. But with new year 2023 I felt I had to finish the d*** thing!

I streamlined the eggcups, the heck with the Baba Yaga motif! I changed the background picture to a window and introduced wallpaper, a third egg and inserted a red chair. The same red chair as an earlier piece -suddenly I had a series.

Compositionally, something was needed in the upper right corner – a clock. Suddenly I was interior designer as well as painter! Still life should have odd numbers so a third egg was introduced, and a quirky spoon. And a salt cellar. Then a breakthrough: one egg should reveal its core. A breakfast masterpiece!

Okay, maybe not. But it was great fun. I glued the canvas to a black-painted cradled board and it makes me smile whenever I walk through the dining room. Strangely, it seems to be a riff on a very early work I hadn’t thought of in years – eggs, clock, landscape in the background too.

Collectif clan, share your creative activities — no effort too small! Send JPG image(s) to cagac.ca@gmail.com with up to 100 words per image describing some or all of: what you did, materials used, inspiration, challenges, mindset, etc. Share how/if creativity affects (controls?) your life. Please include size (height by width), title & media for each image.

Writers – we want to hear from you! Send poetry, lyrics, an excerpt. Try to include an image of some sort because that’s the media world we live in. 

Everyone, share informative, inspiring Show & Tell demonstrating the creative mind.