What is the Backwards Way Around?

You'd think the other way but nooo. In reflection back to 2011 brings me to a realization. Mmm seems the backwards way around to the front. But who cares! Not me! Just so we get there, right? You may find it interesting that sunrises did not inspire me to paint my sunrises. What? That makes no sense you say. Yep, nope it doesn't. It's the other way around for me. Keep reading I'll get to it eventually. I used to be a sleepyhead in the mornings. I thought it was cray cray to rise before dawn to catch an early flight, or something.

Back to the paintings. So what do you think inflluenced my sunrise paintings? Guess again. Yes. You guessed it this time. I just thought people who rise early for exercise were so cool! Oh, that's not what you guessed? Okay then I'll tell you the story of how it happened. So, one day, I thought of my favorite red dirt scene in Oklahoma. It's between Purcell and Pauls Valley. Then I daydreamed of the Comanche on horseback in the 1700's. I can see them at daybreak galloping up to a standstill in a cloud of orange red dirt at the edge of that cliff. I see black haired little Comanche kids playing, racing, and running. That's when I painted my first sunrise. Well, three years later, I am a sunrise runner.

I love to run before daybreak and actually see the sun rise up and into the colors! These paintings inspired me to become an early riser, and are why I love to run.

Back to my story of backwards now. For some it would be that seeing sunrises inspired them to paint sunrises. But I did that backwards; the other way around. It ~dawned~ on me as I was running the other day that it's just the same as I paint. Backwards; the other way around. No, I do not sketch prior to painting. I just start painting with the brush, freehand. After the paint is all on the canvas, that's when I line the painting. So these paintings give me more than one gift. They also give me running. It happened the backwards way. Like painting then outlining, instead of sketching then painting. What do -you- do backwards that works?

To create a painting backwards and have it work better is interesting. I like it backwards! I don't care! I'm not fenced in. Surprises happen as I go along during the creation as there's no sketching that I'm tied down to paint into. Then voila, the finished piece is amazingly unique. In fact, it's always different than what I started out to paint. So you could say it seemed to have a life of it's own. And that's freeing.

Now I have a question for you, though. Do you know the red dirt canyon I'm speaking of here in this blog? Have you ever driven through the "heart of Oklahoma", between Pauls Valley, and Purcell, and seen my favorite red dirt canyon while driving it? What are your thoughts on doing things the backwards way around?