It's All In The Details

The Day of the Eucalyptus
The Day of the Eucalyptus

 

Have you ever noticed a painting within a painting in your creations, or other artist’s creations?  They can be quite inspiring.  In fact, my teacher has taken many of his paintings that don’t work, and chops them up to find little masterpieces.

 

Detail of "Day of the Eucalyptus"
Detail of "Day of the Eucalyptus"

 

Many times my Internet viewers have told me my art shows so much better in person.  One reason for this observation is everyone’s computer will experience different color; some are warmer, cooler brighter or duller, but another reason it is you perceive the painting as a whole not as its parts.  It is difficult to see the fine nuances of texture, elevation, stroke and layers of color on the Internet.

Detail of "Day of the Eucalyptus"

If you find me in a gallery, you will see my face very close to the art.  I love to become the fly on the wall, discover all the secrets, the genius of other artists.  This can only be found by being very close as well as the unity discovered when standing afar.

Detail of "Day of the Eucalyptus"

The images above are details of my painting “Day of the Eucalyptus”.  “Day of the Eucalyptus” is my twenty-fourth painting of my #paint52 challenge, measures 15” X 15”, Atelier Interactive Acrylic and oil on vellum, price $525.

Thank you again for taking the time to visit my blog and leave your wonderful comments.


Only But A Dream

WAKE UP!

Only But A Dream
Only But A Dream

I do my best thinking while on the treadmill, the repetitive walking, stomp, stomp, stomp forces me to connect to the “greater mind” and receive my best ideas. It brought me to a question, “why do I have a need to paint vivid color?

I heard a quote today from Iyanla Vanzant, “Our eyes adjust to the level of deficiency present.” As our vision is obscured, we become accustomed to our everyday way of thinking, preventing us from exploring outside our comfort zone.  

And yet, could it be that there is a lot more that is going on around us daily that we are unable to see and don’t have the level of consciousness to understand?

While painting Plein Air, a person came over to me perturbed as if I made a terrible mistake, “I don’t see that color!” Of course his untrained eye only knew local color and was unable to see what was actually there.

Taking it a step further my painting goes beyond local color and hopefully like a strong cup of coffee, WAKES YOU UP! 

This is my 22nd painting for my #paint52 Challenge, measures approx. 9-1/2 " x  9-1/2", Atelier Interactive Acrylic on vellum*. Price $190.00

*Vellum is archival, a heavy paper resembles the thickness of mat board.


The Trees of Wisdom

Tree Wisdom

 

The Tree’s Wisdom

Finding our power within

Learning from nature

A canopy of strength

Roots tamper the earths crust

Discovering the spirit of life

Calling our name

Calling our soul

Ending our strife

 

This is my 21st painting of my #paint52 challenge.  The painting measures 24" X 36", medium Daniel Smith Oil and Atelier Interactive Acrylic on museum wrapped canvas.  No need to frame. Price $2160 plus freight.

*My tree paintings are teaching me.


Third Eye Samurai

Third Eye Samurai

I have been going through much healing lately and one of the ways I have been doing this is to meditate on my chakras, by using the lovely chakra meditation “Running the Rainbow”, by Laura Alden Kamm. There are seven main centers of the body, each one a spiral of energy. Each chakra is represented by the colors of the spectrum. “Color therapy can be shown to help on a physical level; however there are deeper issues around the colors on the psychological and spiritual levels. Color has a profound effect on us on all levels, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. If our energy centers become blocked or depleted, then our body cannot function properly and this, in turn, can lead to a variety of problems on any level.”

What I have noticed lately is the colors are showing up in my paintings, either what I need or a reflection of my healing of the chakras. It became pretty evident in my last painting, showing red, yellow and purple. Remember the base of the spine is represented by red, an indicator for a need of stability and survival, yellow governing self-esteem and wisdom, and purple relating to our higher self and higher consciousness. They also represent different organs in the body.

I am currently taking The Blog Triage class by Alyson Stanfield and Cynthia Morris. She was asking me the other day about my tag line: “Art in life and spirit in art” – “What does it mean to you?” I realized that my spirit shows in all my work and it is a reflection of my life at that particular moment that I painted the painting. As I live my life, my spirit is reflected in my art. Also speaking of spirits, the title of this piece is “Third Eye Samurai”. Do you also see the spirits of the Samurai in this painting? I didn’t realize they were there until I took the photo, yet my husband noticed them right away. But, that may be a whole other blog.

My intention is for you to discover healing when seeing my paintings, that the colors can also have a positive psychological and spiritual affect for each observer that owns one of my paintings.

This is the twentieth painting of my #paint52 challenge, Atelier Interactive Acrylics on a museum wrapped canvas, measuring 24” X 36”, price $2160. SOLD

As always I cherish your comments. Thank you!


Dark Night of the Soul

My Drug of Choice #paint52

Dark Night of the Soul
Midsummer Night's Dream~ 7 3/4" X 10" Acrylic on Velum SOLD

 

I knew I love color, but I just realized I’m and addict. I'm a color junkie. Color is my drug of choice. Honestly, I have been expressing how much I love color and that is what my paintings are about, but didn’t realize how much or the depth of truth in which I said it. Especially, now that I have been painting consecutively, due to my paint52 challenge, it has become more apparent.

In my early years of painting, in my teacher George de Groat’s class, I noticed a woman painting across from me, using a bright pink, pinker than any pink that I have experienced. I had to ask her where she got it. She mentioned it was permanent rose, by Shiva Signature Oils. I ended up purchasing it and found it to be intense and highly saturated and of course wonderful. It was the beginning of my drug habit.

Wolf Kahn said he has a person make his pastels. He wanted a special blue and what he told her was “I want a blue, bluer than any blue you have seen before”. He did get his wish. That’s what I want. I want to use and have color combinations that most people have never seen before. I want the viewer to be taken on a color trip.

Wolf Kahn~Color and Consequence

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/25903931[/vimeo]

I have found in my search for colors that certain brands are better than others for certain colors. You can’t beat Daniel Smith for their Indian Yellow, Phthalo Turquoise and Quinacridone pigments. Do you have a favorite color? Does it have to be a particular brand?

Cross Over
Cross Over ~ 4 1/4" X 6 3/4" Acryllic on Velum $67.00

You know it kind of reminds of that line from English Patient, when Almasy says “It is a very plum plum.” Color can take you to that place, that extra hyper sense of actually being able to taste, hear, smell, or feel its temperature. It can take you to another world, my hallucinatory world of Technicolor.