Inspired by Chihuly (Digital Sketch)

Inspired by Chihuly (Digital Sketch), a photo by randubnick on Flickr.

Yesterday, I went into Boston to see the Dale Chihuly show at the Museum of Fine Arts. (I met my cousin there, and she liked the show so much that was her second time seeing it.) We had a great time and we spent several hours looking at amazing glass sculptures and installations. When it was time to leave, I set off for home on the T (Boston subway). Due to the Sunday commuter rail schedule, I had over an hour to kill at North Station while I waited for my train back to Beverly. While I sat there, I kept thinking about the exhibit, and decided to take out my iPhone and sketch with the Brushes app. The kind of art show that I enjoy most is the kind that inspires me to make art myself, and the show certainly did that! It was also inspirational to consider the optimism of a glass-blower who was blinded in one eye (by glass!) in a car crash, and due to a shoulder injury, could no longer blow glass himself. But instead of being stopped by these events, he created a team approach and went on to make huge glass sculptures and larger-than-life installations. But most inspirational, to me: the playful spirit, exuberance, and celebration of life in the exhibit. So that's was what was on my mind in North Station as I got out my iPhone and began to play with my Brushes app. I wasn't interested in replicating anything I had seen (would never dare, anyway). But the show certainly filled my imagination with biological forms, colors, and textures. So I began to sketch one simple biomorphic shape, and then repeated variations of it. I used the different digital "brushes" in the Brushes app to create different textures, and added a dark purple background for contrast. I was just finishing my sketch when they called my train. Tonight I transferred the sketch from my iPhone into my computer, and used my Painter software to do a little bit of cleanup and cropping. This image is the final result, a little tribute to Dale Chihuly, to optimism, and to the inspirational power of art.