Inspiration is something most artists and creatives look for and find before they begin to create. Focusing on nature I was able to re-imagine how to capture the raw force of air.
Melissa Ayr by the Golden Gate Bridge with Her Leaf Blower Paint Brush
I discovered the force of air, while I was working on a few things at once. An upcoming show in New York, Teaching Art classes at a Private School from K-12, Working as a Gallery Director and Painting a Baby Grand Piano for a Beautiful Charity Event benefiting the Scottish Rite Hospital. After I finished my lesson plan, I began to stretch canvases for my New York showing, then went to work on the Piano. Doing a technique that I developed to create a paint splatter look. I would use my fingers to flick paint onto the canvas that I was painting.
In one fell swoop I heard a loud snap as pain colored my outlook as to what came next. My arm went limp as the words escaping my lips were foul. I was home alone waiting for my kids to come home from school and my husband from work. I phoned our Family Practitioner and I was referred to a specialist that had formerly helped a baseball player from the Texas Rangers. One look at my arm and he knew what had happened. I snapped my Extenor Carpi Radialis and was told that I would not be able to use my arm for up to six months. However, if I were to use it before then, I may need to have surgery to fix it. I was sent home with my arm in a sling and a handful of pain meds. This couldn't be happening to me, not at this moment.
I telephoned my Yogi friend in Ireland and told him that I was hurt. Before I could finish telling him what had happened to me he saw what was wrong with me and fixed it. I was told to close my eyes as he did energy work on my arm. By the end of the conversation I was able to wiggle my fingers and move my arm.
Thinking once again of my work load ahead of me. I went into my art studio to find something to help me along with the tasks that lie ahead of me. Thinking to myself how can I paint without the use of my dominate right hand? Remembering what I had learned from one of my Art Teachers at U.C.Berkeley. I entered the house and found my hair dryer. Placing the hair dryer directly onto on the spilled paint I began to make bubbles. As I watched them pop, my hair dryer burnt out. I glanced around looking for something I could use to do something similar. I tried an air compressor and this also made my fingers hurt so this wasn't what I was looking for.
I sat in my studio and cried. Hands in my lap, I took a deep breathe and began to visualize my favorite place, the beach. How did the ocean waves move? What was the driving force behind it? A bolt of energy surged threw me. It's AIR. Looking around I saw the leaf blower tucked into the corner. Could this be something that I could use to paint with? Picking up the leaf blower, I turned it on and a loud roar shouted out of the machine as it vibrated in my hands. A devilish smile slowly crept along my face, I knew I had something there. Lavishly I poured paint onto my canvas and blew the paint with the forced air for the first time. I was covered from head to toe. I turned on the leaf blower and focused the direction of air onto the canvas. Paint splattered everywhere. My hands tingled and my ears rung with deafening ringing.
Video of me Painting with a Leaf Blower in My Studio
I was able to use the forced air to push the paint across the canvas. Waves of paint pushed beyond the edge by the Air. Excited, I ran into my home and told my family to come see my what I was doing. My husband took a few photos and told me to be safe. I began my new way of Painting.
Painting a canvas without the use of my hands, only AIR.
Melissa AYR paints with AIR. My tag line. A play on my last name and the new way that I found to create inspired by Nature.
Artfully Yours,
Melissa Ayr
http://www.melissaayr.com