Happy Feet

I don't know where this one came from? I'm guessing my Cole Haan mules make me very happy? I started out to draw them realistically with my colored pencils and as I went along reached for the Crayola Markers instead.

I did catch a documentary yesterday on the history of Crayola Crayons that made me recall how awesome it was to open a brand new box of 48 sharp points standing erect in neat little rows of glorious colors. Every hue from salmon to indigo to lemon yellow and even silver, gold and bronze inviting me to make my mark. Maybe that childhood joy and promise pushed me to pick up the markers?

Or maybe it was the shoes? They're mules in green and yellow and black and magenta. They're happy shoes. They make my toes twinkle. I especially like to put my feet up with them so others can see the beautiful soles with their bright yellow and magenta stripes. I dressed in black most the time, feel giddy in them--like I'm breaking all fashion rules for sixty year olds and thumbing my nose at the boringly safe neutrals my generation hides in. Whatever. My truth revealed itself last night: I love bright cartoon colors and a box of new crayons today as much as I did as a kid. AND I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THOSE MULES.

(I also think that this rendering suggests my lifelong observation that different subject matter prompts different stylistic responses has merit. It's not a philosophy shared by the all too serious art world that likes to categorize artists in specific genres--everybody except Picasso that is. I don't say I'm Picasso, but I do follow my heart as did he).