Gili Air Rainbows

I stuffed as many tubes of paint as I could squeeze into my dry bag. I sealed the wet color tightly shut because I didn’t want a repeat of last time. Last time, almost one year ago now, I boarded a fast boat that flew me across the channel between Bali and Nusa Lembogan. When I unpacked my bags on the other side, there was paint all over my clothing. To this day, you can still see a turquoise stain on my orange running shoes. The ocean also took away six of my freshly created paintings, the chakra series I made on the beach in Nusa Ceningan. This was a little disaster for the artist in me so I took special precautions this time as I traveled on the fast boat to Gili Air. The paint went inside the dry bag. The canvases were tucked tightly in the very very bottom of the bag, beneath everything else. I was still feeling rusty with color. I barely wanted to paint actually. My mind had been so deeply in the flow of words, writing a novel for months and months.


On the tiny island of Gili Air, just off the coast of the much larger Indonesian island of Lombok, I moved into a white cottage by the sea. I could see both the sun and the moon in the sky at the same time. A palm tree towered above my patio garden. Inside the white fence, I stripped down to naked skin and spread out six canvases. Now, I had a bag full of paint and I didn’t really know what to do with it. I dumped it out and organized the tubes into a rainbow. I can always rely on the rainbow.

Painting had always been a way for me to release pent up emotions but as I sat before the blank canvas I didn’t feel any. I was cleansing myself through written word and feeling rather purified and calm. I was at a loss for where to begin so I decided to just make a mess. I squirted red and pink paint on the top left canvas. Orange on the top middle and yellow on the top right. Then along the bottom row went the green, blue and purple. Each canvas started as one color and then quickly, I move the brush along from canvas to canvas, mixing and blending them so they each hold all of the colors. This is the beautiful thing about painting for me; sometimes it’s a huge emotional release and sometimes it’s just color play. I am reminded of my childhood playing with fingerpaints and Playdough. Not everything in life needs to be so serious. Even fingerpainting mess can be beautiful in the eyes of the beholder and worth the purchase from a fancy art collector. The art flows through us in many different ways. What took five messy minutes for the artist to birth might bring five hundred years of joy to the viewer. 

The second collection of images I created in Indonesia in 2023.
Originals and prints are available for sale in my online shop.
Studio members get to bid on paintings first.

Love & Rainbows,
Cha Wilde

Bunga Laut Collection


I hadn’t played with paint in six months. I was practicing focus. I focused on writing music and writing a novel. No painting. It physically hurt, in the chest, the heart, aching to not touch paint. I dreamed of walking into the art supply story. When June arrived, I reached my finish line and finally, in disbelief, walked down the aisles of colorful tubes. I hauled a giant roll of canvas three hours across the island. I spread out a sarong on the floor of my balcony. In the only shady spot I could find, I cracked open color and spread it around. My fingers had been longing to touch the cool acrylic paint for months and finally, I was covered it. It was all over my knees and the floor. My subconscious expressed its gatherings. I had been living amongst tropical coral reefs, reading beside the turquoise pool surrounded by bouganvilleas.

These paintings will be for sale in my online shop as originals and Gilcee prints.
Studio members get first dibs on new paintings.

 

The two paintings below were the palettes used in the making of this collection; the canvases where I prepared the paint, emptied the brushes and swirled around globes of excess paint. These are the byproduct pieces of this collection. The wild unplanned nature of the palettes usually appeals to me. The byproducts of my artwork — palettes, brush handles, dropcloths, paint splatter on my clothing and legs etc… is a joy. While I’m focused on one work, life is making a pretty mess elsewhere that I get to realize and appreciate later. Everything we do leaves footprints and surprises elsewhere. 

Love & Rainbows,
Cha Wilde

I Am Great Doing the Work of an Artist

I said I want to be great. I feel embarrassed to say it but there is something inside me that still holds on to the belief that I can do something great. I understand now that this greatness is not something I will create or become. It is only to be felt as it rushes through me and I look up from my daily work with a smile and say “I feel great.” Great is how I feel, how I am, when I am dipping into the deep flowing river of creation, happily lost in my own imagination, wandering the trails of my artist mind, grateful to be greatful.

Call Me Wilde - Mini Paintings Series

I was curious what it would feel like to paint to the rhythm of my music -- to pretend my canvas was a drum and the paintbrushes were drumsticks. Click play and paint to the beat, dance it out with paint! This is what the music looks like when you convert it into something tangible; music illustration.

Cha Wilde - Paintings - Call Me Wilde x4 - GIANT-1_WEB.jpg

I knew I would feel the pressure of time, a rush to paint finish the painting before the end of the song. To make my work easier, I laid out the paint brushes and opened the paint cans ahead of time so I could just reach for them and not fiddle around and lose precious painting time. I only had 3 minutes and 30 seconds for each canvas. I played the song four times so we now have four 4x4" canvases. Interesting isn't it how the paintings came from the same source of inspiration and were created in the same fashion, in the same moment, and yet they are so different. The song I'm painting to is "Call Me Wilde" -- the 9th track on my album "The Sound of Freedom".

Each time I replayed the song and started painting a new canvas, I also moved my camera tripod to a new location so I could capture this paint adventure from four different angles. The whole project took me about 30 minutes and I spent about and hour and half editing the video on my computer. This creation experience was really satisfying because it came to life so quickly. I had the idea for this project on my drive home at night and it was manifested, brought to life, vision accomplished, by breakfast the next morning! I felt in my body that it was a beautiful idea and I needed to act on it right away. Don't let yourself sit on those good ideas. Take action immediately before the momentum of inspiration fades.

This project celebrates how limitation gives you freedom! I limited myself to a small tiny canvas. When you paint on large canvas you can spread out and take up space. If you make something beautiful you can leave it and move on to the next open area. When you're painting on tiny area of space you have to make critical decisions like, "am I going to paint over this pretty part?....because I'm running out of room!" Limiting space means I had to make decisions and let go of pretty parts. Painting is all about letting go. Creating anything is about letting go. I had to be okay with whatever the final product looked like. Half way through the song I had created a pretty picture; the canvas looked amazing after 1 minute of painting and I was afraid of messing it up by continuing to paint. But the rules of the game were to paint until the end of the song. Keep painting. I ran out of room and so I had to paint over the top of something that was pretty. It was heartbreaking but I forced myself to let go of my attachment to the outcome. Just keep painting.

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Call Me Wilde 2 | Leggings
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Call Me Wilde 2 | Leggings
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Call Me Wilde 4 | Leggings
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Call Me Wilde 4 | Leggings
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Call Me Wilde 3 | Leggings
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Call Me Wilde 1 | Leggings
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I also had to be a complete work of art (from zero to sixty) in the length of one song. I was nervous as the song came to the final seconds. What if I don't like how the painting looks yet? Quickly!!!!! Fix it!!! What if my final stroke fucks the whole thing up?! These were the worries I had to face while painting these canvases. These are the life lessons we have to face all the time, right?

We're all afraid of messing up and making rushed fearful decisions that change the course of our lives or afraid that we're going to get stuck somewhere or run out of time. All real concerns for us humans. Facing these challenges through artwork is a low risk way to process and strengthen our decision making abilities. It carries over into the rest of our lives.

So, my friend. What vision is in your head today? How can you take immediate action today to bring that vision to life? What life lessons are you learning through your artwork? Throw paint everywhere! No starting plans. Just dive in and discover what flows out of you as if flows out of you. Thank you for hanging out with me for a moment. I hope something here helped, inspired or entertained you. ‘

❤ Love, Cha

CHA🍍WILDE
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