I like pictures in the house to have a story to explain their presence.
For example i have this picture in my lounge next to the fire place of a woman's face in negative. I really like it from a purely visual point of view, but I've no idea who it is...
I'd been wanting to replace it with a woman who I find inspiring and had been considering Hedy Lamarr due to her inventions but the more i found out about the post-Holywood side of things the less inspired i became...
That's when I heard about Emmy Noether the mathematician and physicist while listening to the In Our Time radio show by Melvin Bragg. Albert Einstein would run his ideas passed her. Perhaps she was the real genius? -Perhaps Einstein got credit for the work of two people? About this time Shelly paid for me to attend a painting workshop on a Saturday at the Crescent Arts Centre which was great. You had to bring a piece you were working on so that meant thinking of something quick. .. So i scoured internet for a picture of Emmy and found this one which i thought was brilliant ...
So armed with that picture I went to art class and got started.
I only got as far as the sketch that Saturday ...
The next opportunity I got was when we were spending a couple of days in the Mourne Mountains in a little turf-fire cottage. It rained and rained. After our trek and seaweed baths I was very happy to sit in front of the fire and try to improve my painting.
I've had much more practice at sketching than painting so I knew that I was probably going to ruin it by painting -- but that was the whole point -- practice !