Happy Accidents

by Lisa 

First of all, a hardy congratulations to Erika, for her accomplishments to date since getting into medical school is no easy feat from what I understand. The congrats is extended to Bill and his wife Martha as well, since they worked hard to get her there too.

 So, last Wednesday I was preparing to go to teach for the day at the Art Institute (www.calartinst.com), and as always, I consider what the students will be painting, and if I can bring anything from my garden. As it turned out I had a peach tree with burgeoning branches of little peaches, so I cut a few of them and took them in. I did not think for one minute that the leaves would last, I just wanted the peaches and it was a convenient way to take them. When I got to the school, I was beginning to grow rather fond of one of the little branches, and decided to humor it by plopping it in a little jar of water. I grabbed the first available jar from the prop shelf that would accomodate my little branch. You see it here as I stuck it in the jar. The students came in and choose other branches and peaches, but did not seem to notice the branch so oddly placed in the jar. I didn’t think that much of it either at the time. At the end of the day I left the branch sitting there for another class that might want to use it. The leaves were still good and perky.

Thursday I was in my studio, and my mind kept drifting back to the hardy little peach branch and I found myself beginning to wish I had painted it. I decided that the next day, I would clip a new branch and go to the Art Institute to retrieve that very pot, and paint it. But none of the branches would do. They were not as good as the first. Oh well. When I got to the school, there was the pot with the peach branch still looking very nice. I couldn’t believe my good fortune. However, when I picked it up one key peach fell off. They were very ripe. I gingerly picked it up, and carefully transported the pot back to my studio. I was able to prop the peach in place. Then I proceeded to paint like a maniac before all the peaches let go. I beat it by a hair. This picture shows the painting almost finished with the set up behind.

 

And the moral of the story is, have faith in happy accidents happen. Plopping the branch in the nearest pot worked far better than anything that I could have spent hours trying to Art Direct.