I haven’t posted in a while but the recent sale of this painting got me to thinking! Thinking what you might ask. Well, thinking about my painting. You see, this work started out as two separate works (you can see one of them on an earlier post but I won’t tell you which one!) I was inspired by a misty moon glimpsed from our driveway one night for the top section, and by the smoke swirling around our campsite from the fire for the bottom. The ideas had been good, but neither painting really spoke of anything. I liked them but probably only because I held in my mind what their inspirations had been. So they sat. Then, last year, one of my art groups-Rogues Gallery-announced a show to be called “Wilde About the Theater” (paintings had to have something to do about theater). Ya know, right now in my wheelhouse are landscapes. What can I do to fit in this show? Oh, a farm scene could pretend to be inspired by “Oklahoma” (and was titled as such in the show-it made me feel like a fraud). Then I remembered these! I don’t know why, but the Shakespeare play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” occured to me. With some added effects, Puck, and a famous line from the play I was all set! The words on the top are from Poe and were there already, but don’t tell anyone. So…back to my painting. I know I will always want to do plein air landscapes, but why can’t I sometimes branch out and do something different like this? I can be versatile, no matter what the experts say about sticking to a style. I am thrilled that people liked this piece (2 people wanted to buy it), so go me! I think I’ll be open to such diversions in the future! Oh, and I’m proud of how Puck turned out. Lots of sketches and a small brush were the secret!