Mardi Gras Beads
by Claudia Lynch

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It all started with a box of vintage paper dolls I picked up at an antique show, cheap enough and mismatched enough to feel fine about using them to make something. They got shuffled around the studio for a few months, until one day I happened to be shuffling that box and a pile of Mardi Gras beads at the same time. It was a "You got chocolate in my peanut butter" moment.

As an illustrator, I've always worked in gouache, and quite frankly, have always been terrified of it. I did not want to be terrified of paper dolls and Mardi Gras beads, so I tried acrylics. Heaven! The paint is deliciously creamy, and you can just paint over something if it goes wrong. I think that freedom translates to the canvas.

Many would consider t he endless circles tedious, but the rhythm and the paint-by-numbers aspect appeal to me, in an OCD kind of way. A friend not from here didn't recognize the beads and thought they were bubbles, leading to experiments with more realistic bead reflections. Those are fun, too, although I have to say I kinda dig the ambiguity of beads vs. bubbles. Both are joyful.

In my current space, I'm limited to small canvases and "clean" paint. Eventually, I'd like to paint the more realistic beads in oil. I'd also love to make some paintings that are huge — imagine the side of a building dripping with Marid Gras beads!

I realize that in the world of "real art", the combo of paint, paper dolls, glitter and bits from real Mardi Gras beads may be considered just a little too "craptastic". I don't care.

Entitled "Drill Baby Drill", this piece was inspired by a day trip to Grand Isle, LA, shortly after the 2010 oil spill. The Mardi Gras beads appear to be floating in oil.

PLEASE CLICK ON THIS IMAGE TO LEARN HOW TO JOIN ME IN HELPING LOUISIANA'S FISHERMEN AND SHRIMPERS, WHOSE LIVES HAVE BEEN DEVASTATED BY THE GULF OIL SPILL.