My friend Amrita has a mission: to make art approachable.  She has recently opened Tinku gallery in Toronto with the goal of creating a space that takes the intimidation factor out of buying art.  I have been reading her blog for a little while, watching as she builds the story of her gallery through her posts.  But a few weeks ago, when I clicked onto her blog, I gasped aloud.  I fell complete and instantly in love with this painting:

Needle in the Hay, Andy DeCola
Oil on wood panel, 18" x 24"
$900

I didn’t think too much about why I was drawn to the painting, but I found myself going back to that blog entry multiple times. I thought about the painting when I was not at my computer, fantasizing where I would hang it if I found $900 under the sofa cushions (which is the only way that I could justify the purchase).

Finally, I showed it to my husband.  He didn’t care for it. I was surprised.

"I love it," I said.  "It would look great in my office."

"Of course you love it," he replied, with a smirk. "It looks like a the cover of a book, but without any text."

He may be right — that could be part of the attraction.  I admit that I am slightly book-obsessed.  But instead of putting me off, his comment opened up other possibilities.  Now I’m not thinking just about the painting — I’m thinking of the book that it would represent. 

I’m imagining that it’s the story of a family — one of those quirky but sweet families..  Maybe they own a traveling carnival. The teenage daughter desperately wants to be a normal kid, but the family business makes that impossible. The son just wants to play the saxophone.  They have a crazy dog.  Who wants to write it for me?

That is the power of art — everything else that it can inspire. This work obviously fits into my life.

Unfortunately, there’s only crushed Cheerios under the cushions. But now I have this image here, where it will serve until I get to Toronto.

What about you?  What does art inspire in your life?  Do you ever see connections between visual art and literature?