Last in a Series

This is the last painting in my Nia series, at least for now.  I am drawn to the idea of joyful moments suddenly appearing out of the darkness, so I have a feeling I'll be returning to this.  I'm keeping up a list of more titles from bits of Nia songs that I may want to use in the future.  Dancing in Nia class always lifts me out of any funk I'm having.  Even on days when I have to drag myself to class, I never leave in a bad mood.  In painting I often like to start off with dark underpinnings and then do some brightening on top to shift the mood from darkness to light playfulness.  In this case, I even added a little neon pink on top, which really popped up the cheer.

"In the Land of My Dreams", acrylic on paper, 11x14"

Nia Series

My pink and orange paintings are now officially my Nia series.  Title of this one is from another Nia song--Happiness Floats.

"Happiness Floats", acrylic on paper, 11x14"

I've been enjoying this BBC series called The Rules of Abstract Art.  It is in 6--15 min. segments.  I tend to focus on abstract expressionism since that interests me most, so it was nice to get an overview of other forms of abstract painting.  I also really enjoyed seeing how contemporary painters are using those forms.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg3oQ_OqQ_o

A Series Develops

It's been really interesting to see how series develop for me.  I started this one in response to posting all the blue and gray pieces of my "Breathing Space" series.  All I knew in the beginning was that I wanted some fresh, cheerful colors and wanted to set them against gray or black.  

I was in my Nia dance class one day and heard a happy song that seemed to fit the mood of my painting.  After that I started to pay attention to the lyrics in class, and a phrase would jump out at me that fit a painting perfectly.  This series is very much about those cheerful moments that rise up out of the bleaker times.  When I'm in a dark mood, I almost always get pulled out of it instantly when I start dancing in Nia.  

One of my favorite, and one of the most uplifting songs we dance to, has these lyrics:

"Everything's gonna be all right now

How do I know?

Because that's the seed I sow."  (It sounds much better set to music!)

There's my title.

"That's the Seed I Sow", acrylic on paper, 11x14"