Alone on a Saturday Night

Acrylic on canvas.

36x36"

Alone on a Saturday Night
I painted this thinking about those Saturday nights when it feels like everyone else in the world has somewhere to be.

She is surrounded by color, pattern, movement, and noise, yet she is completely alone. Her eyes are closed and her head rests in her hand. I wanted her to look caught somewhere between boredom, sadness, exhaustion, and thought. Maybe she is waiting for the phone to ring. Maybe she turned down an invitation. Maybe no invitation ever came.

There is almost too much happening around her. The circles, dots, and intense colors become the party she isn't attending—the noise of the world continuing without her.

But I didn't want the painting to simply be about loneliness. There is something strangely beautiful about being alone. When no one is watching, we don't have to perform. We don't have to be charming, entertaining, attractive, successful, or interesting. We can simply exist.
I've spent much of my life surrounded by people—dancers, actors, students, audiences, friends. And yet some of the most creative moments happen when all of that disappears and I am left alone with myself.

So perhaps she isn't lonely at all.

Maybe she's just alone on a Saturday night.

And sometimes there is a very big difference.