Sonata

Sonata

Oil on Stretched Canvas

16x20

I enjoy reading blogs where the postings are frequent.  Unfortunately, I have been posting sporadically, at best, lately.  I very much hope that I can start to post much more in the future.  

Painting is part of who I am at my deepest core.  I feel most at home in my own skin when I am at my easel.  I find myself getting into the zone while painting.  Time flies.  Usually I listen to music, especially Josh Groban, as it seems his beautiful voice carries me forward while painting.  There is energy in his voice.

I would love to hear what kind of music you listen to while painting or doing some other creative endeavor.  What feeds your soul?

  

A Most Inspring Quote

Rapture

16x20

Oil on Stretched Canvas

I read a most inspiring quote recently.  I need to use it as my mantra every time I get ready to paint.  

"There is a vitality, a life-force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost." (Martha Graham)

The Essence of Things

Remember

8x10

Oil on Linen

Sold

This small painting just sold through my Etsy store.  It is one of the simplest paintings I think I've ever done.  To me it describes the essence of what I love about the landscape.  

I have other paintings from years past that are more technically accurate.  But over the years I found that I wanted to express something different.  There is spirit in the landscape.

Summer Studio Painting

Gratitude
24x24 inches
Oil on Stretched Canvas

Some artists enjoy painting plein air.  I've done my share of painting outdoors, painting directly from nature.  But over time I come to realize that I'm more of a "memory painter".  I can observe the landscape in silence.  From there I record with my camera or sometimes simply from my own interpretation of memory.

Even if I paint from a photograph, the painting never looks like the photo.  For me the painting needs to come from somewhere inside.  Only then does my painting look truly authentic.  

Eucharisteo

Eucharisteo
Oil on Stretched Canvas
24x30

Eucharisteo is a beautiful word, simply meaning gratitude or thanksgiving.  Today I'm feeling healthy and whole and I'm grateful.  Back in April, I had an unexpected thing happen to me.  I caught the flu.  The kind that involves vomiting and that kind of thing.  Usually people rebound from this after about three days.  But I wasn't getting any better.

My husband had previously had the same thing but recovered quickly.  And he kept telling me that I should at least sit up, not lay down.  Long story short, my kidneys had stopped functioning and fortunately I got to the hospital in time.  After four days, I was discharged but the recovery took over a month.  

Now I'm back to normal and feel extremely grateful.  Eucharisteo.

Serenity

Serenity
16x12
Oil on Stretched Canvas

I named my latest oil painting "Serenity".  Thinking of the warm, calm days of summer makes me feel serene after the long winter we've all had this year.  I find that I usually paint a place where I want to be, even if it's only in my mind's eye.

My paintings rarely turn out the way I initially visualize them.  Most of the time, they are a complete surprise.  Only after some time has passed do I come to appreciate my paintings.  Then I wonder "where did THAT come from"?

Splendour

Splendour

20x16

Oil on Stretched Linen

I have been reading a big hefty book this summer entitled "A History of Tonalism: 1880-1920".  It isn't the kind of book that I would read cover to cover.  It is the kind where I read some and then ponder on the morsels.  In it are beautiful examples of the great American Tonalist works by artists such as George Inness, Homer Dodge Martin, John Henry Twatchtman and James McNeill Whistler.  

All of these visual delights are interspersed with the philosophies of the day by Emerson, Thoreau and Darwin.  American Tonalism came about after the Civil War.  At that time, the nation was grieving and was trying to come to grips with the horrors of loss.  As a result, there came the philosophy that Spirit is in the landscape.  And that Spirit was most apparent and visible during the Magic Hours, such as dawn, sunset, twilight and night.  

It was a time of renewal and hope.