“How can it be that I’ve never seen that lofty sky before? Oh, how happy I am to have found it at last. Yes! It’s all vanity, it’s all an illusion, everything except that infinite sky. There is nothing, nothing – that’s all there is. But there isn’t even that. There’s nothing but stillness and peace. Thank God for that!”
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
*******************
There’s something about this new painting that has wonderful calming effect for me. I find it easy to ease myself into this piece for a few moments, leaving behind for that time all the worries and concerns that are eating at me.
When I was looking at this painting in the studio I felt like I was looking at an aquarium or a terrarium, something that was right there in front of me but separate from me, a world unto itself, a unique eco-system that exists only in that one place. But instead of seeing fish or reptiles or plants, this was a self-contained world of peaceful feeling- a placidarium.
So, that is the title– Placidarium— that I have chose for this 12″ by 12″ painting that will be part of my show at the Kada Gallery that opens this Friday. It’s a painting that I will be sad to see go – a working placidarium is hard thing to come by these days.
I love that word! I wondered if it was your invention, and it pretty much seems to be. The only other reference I could find was the Latin name of a moth species, named by a guy named Freyer in 1852. The fact that Freyer rhymes with Myers is lagniappe. 🙂
I believe I’m going to have to make use of the word and your use of it one of these days — it’s so perfect.
Glad you liked that, Linda. I saw that about the moth, as well, when I was trying to determine if it was a word at all. The fact that it wasn’t anything beyond the Latin name of a moth surprised me but made it even better.