Beauty Within the Heart

After working with the flow of lines and shapes in charcoal, I discovered this image in my meanderings. The next step was to bring it to life with color. Using watercolors to splash a few background dabs of color, I then drew the image in with my favorite medium, pastels. In the past, I have wet the area with water to get more intense color from the pastels. This time I spritzed the image with water after it was drawn so I could apply more color. To my horror, it started to drip! After I caught my breath, I realized that it was perfect and just what it needed, a happy accident! As I was working on the painting, several phrases were coming together as if a tiny muse were whispering insights in my ear. While driving home that evening, the phrases suddenly pulled themselves together, I pulled off the road, grabbed a pen and paper and wrote the poem for this creation, Beauty Within the Heart
Beauty is within the heart
It is nameless and faceless
as it melds with the soul
to manifest the colors of life.