I was thinking about Matisse when I was creating this pastel painting. Many people have asked me where I have gotten my (they say) unusual sense of color. At one point my mom and I pulled out all the artwork we 4 children had made to sort out whose was whose.

Woman and the Sea, Pastel © Diane Clancy

I was amazed to see that my color sense was already fully developed as a child. I remember painting a pink bunny in a pink field in the 4th grade. The pinks were intense and many different variations closely related. But I was surprised to see that the rest of the pictures I created were also true to my future sense of color.

Each of us as children had a very disctinctive flavor to our creative process. Mine was easier to tell apart from the others, but we were each individual. What fun my mom and I had as we went through these memories. How I wish she were alive and healthy today!

Matisse’s paintings inspired my spiraly and curlycue things … I used to make afghans and quilts with these kind of color combinations. Afghans are one place I could play and explore color with freedom. Thank you for joining me down Memory Lane.

– Diane Clancy

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