Example: Meridith McNeal, Magical Things Trastevere Toothpaste, 2019, watercolor on paper, 12x12”
In 2008 while on an artists’ residency in Italy, I started painting a series I call Magical Things. I noticed that while in an unfamiliar place ordinary objects become very important to me -- my set of travel paint brushes, a bottle of dishwashing soap, the rock I used to prop my studio door open to let in the breeze. I work on this series every time I travel. My example above is the toothpaste I bought while I was in Italy last June.
In 2018 after my mother died, I began making a version of this series, painting pictures of things that had belonged to my mother. Yesterday I realized that this is the perfect time to think about the everyday things around me that are now so meaningful. I have begun Magical Things from Quarantine.
I hope you will all be Inspired to draw, paint or photograph a still life of the objects in your home which are important to you right now. You can take in-progress photos to share as you work on you piece.