Variations on a Theme

Lillian did a painting, in tempera paints, and then promptly forgot about it, and left it lying somewhere.

I took it and cleaned up the edges with scissors,  not completely at ease with her choice of colors. Still, she is bold, and I am not, so I decided to use colors as close to her palette as I could and toss strokes onto a page, using her painting as a model.

It was fun to do, and while we had the really cold snap when I couldn't be out in the studio, I was pining for it.

When I was done, Lillian happened to come out to the garage studio to see what was going on, so I showed her my pastel, explaining that I was looking at her work while I did it.

She patiently explained to me that she had left white paper showing on hers, and that the color in the lower half had been mixed to make a kind of peach color. She wasn't exactly critical, but she knew it wasn't a replica.

 "It's called variations on a theme," I told her. "Similar, but not the same."

She was good with that, and so am I.