There is an answer

“There Was an Answer, no. 5″; 46″ x 46”; oil and collage on canvas, originally uploaded by leyaevelyn.

On Monday, I had to go to LaHave to pick up my paintings from the gallery. Just before going, I received an email from a woman interested in possibly purchasing the large blue painting exhibited there. She said she had visited the painting three times and felt it had more to tell her.

When her daughter was a little over one year, she took her in a stroller to the Marc Rothko retrospective exhibit at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. At the time, the child was very cranky and fussy. She hadn’t been able to get her to calm down. When they walked into the room of the Rothko exhibit, the little girl immediately became quiet. They both felt the overwhelming presence of the paintings and all they had to say.

I met her at the gallery in LaHave and she took the blue painting home. It is one of those paintings I feel taught me something new, something about expression, about communication. Technically it had to do with how the paint of the “image” and space merge. There is a cross-fertilization between color and form. Philosophically, or otherwise, it is another step into the unknown. Where paintings are best to go.

Interestingly, she had misread the title. She thought it was There Was No Answer. I had called it There Was an Answer. I like her title better. Maybe there was no answer, but there is now.