#6 and “A Bonnet, Bouquet, & Bees”

Welcome April and TGIF.  Happy 04.01.2022.

This is my next canvas in my made-up “Is It Bigger Than A Breadbox?” art project. I call the painting “A Bonnet, Bouquet, & Bees”.  The title includes a seasonal theme being that there was a time when the fashion of wearing an Easter bonnet carried much weight and the date for Easter this year will fall in the middle of this month of April. ( It is always curious to me when Easter is because it changes every year based on the spring equinox and the cycle of the moon. )

Read about my painting project that uses vintage fashion magazines and takes inspiration from an old-fashioned guessing game in my previous blogs linked below where I explain that I am creating a series of paintings inspired by the game “Twenty Questions” also known as the “Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral?” game. Sometimes I also call it the “Is It Bigger Than A Breadbox?” game.
​

The concept of my art project is to reference a fashion model ( or mannequin in this case ) from my collection of old fashion magazines and catalogs, then imagine and create a painting that somehow includes in the composition what could be identified as an animal, a vegetable, and a mineral.

Find a review of the game of questions mentioned and my made-up project including my first five canvases of this series of paintings in the blogs linked below:

“Is It Bigger Than A Breadbox?” ~ “TV Land”, “Saturn”, “December”, and “Parrot Wallpaper”

“March On… 2022 So Far”
​

Canvas #6: “A Bonnet, Bouquet, & Bees”

“A Bonnet, Bouquet, &  Bees”.

That alliteration and title of this painting should cover it for including an animal, a vegetable, and a mineral in this April creation and canvas number 6 ( number 6 like the 6 number of sides found in a hexagon = the geometric shape that repeatedly makes and defines a honeycomb. )


For the hat model in this painting I will note that the figure or face in this piece was actually created based on a picture of a mannequin in an ad.  The disproportionate humanlike features may be noticeable in this regard, for example how oversized the eye is relative to other features. All the rest of the elements in the composition I just made-up to include in the design what could be classified as an animal, a vegetable, and a mineral each of which can be found blooming or buzzing with a brim.

​Here are a whole bunch of pictures that I snapped at different times and in different lighting along with a changing palette during the process of painting this canvas as my ideas for the composition evolved:

My ideas for this “Is It Bigger Than A Breadbox Project” won’t stop but as always the ideas are just the spark - - then there is the process. “The Process” or work of journeying through the creating is a whole other matter, a different animal.  In the spirit of the Easter season that is upon us one could call it a “rabbit hole”.  Nevertheless, though the process may be much more time consuming than the quick conceptualizing that pops in my head in the form of words or visualizations, I do find the work of making the art valuable to me.  For me I find it inspiring, insightful, and meaningful. ( In keeping with the theme of the title of this artwork/blog, I guess you could say it allows a little space to use a combination of all my senses, my “6th sense”, and serves as a form of meditation. ) Of course doing the work is also fun and probably most valuable of it all is that it is healing. Art in its many forms has always been my medicine and therapy, and in the end the quiet time put into it never ceases to continually reveal to me much more than my initial thoughts or imaginings even if my pictures may not show it.

I have some other projects I am working on this April and I won’t be spending much time in my home studio space in May because that is the merry month that my family celebrates all our birthdays ( aside from mine which is in December ). In May we celebrate my two sons’ birthdays as well as their dad’s ( my husband’s ) birthday.  We will also celebrate Mother’s Day too of course, and will be traveling together throughout the springtime. I have begun sketching out some summer holiday artwork however and see my next piece as having a little 4th of July flair.  It will be my 7th canvas of the 20 canvases I have for this series of paintings and will likely groove with some 1970’s vibes.
​ …I think I may call it “Bicentennial Spirit”.

*Another piece with reference to this artwork can be found in a blog from late summer 2024 linked below:

​"Hats On for Our Grandmothers, for Our Suffrage Era Ancestors, and for Ancient Columns of the Ionic Order"
​