WHERE COMETH INSPIRATION

A number of years ago, via mail, a box of striped white and gray stones arrived from a most talented artist:  Elizabeth Bunsen.
Little could I guess, that slowly, ever so slowly I would gain an interest in the abstract..the linear...the non-representational...from a handful of rocks and some left over paint.
About this time, on a lazy day with no direction,  I scooped up left over paint from muffin tin  and finger painted neglected cheap white canvas boards ... childhood revisited. Plus the old nagging adage "Waste Not Want Not." 

Running parallel to painting is my second creative outlet.
PHOTOGRAPHY

Much of what I paint, is reflected in those places, people and cultures I capture with my camera. 

Spending time in Cambodia, photographing 

mysterious stone-faced towers,  Banyon trees,  temples, elaborately chiseled monuments, mountain loads of strewn rock with ancient carvings, tumbling cairns, kept the concept of abstraction at the forefront.

Angkor Vat, Cambodia

The many piles of Cairns caught my attention and memory of seeing Elizabeth's beautiful tributes to stones, rocks and shells. 

So the branching of my artistic journey began. Slowly. 

First scribbles with crayon and pastel.

Eventually I tackled the first of my semi-abstract paintings.  (36x36) And I sent it out into the world on the web and in a gallery.  
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A few more years pass, again I slowly work on abstract design. It is hard. I never seem to know what I am doing? I see other artists' work, who make it look so easy. It is not, for me that is.  I wanted to refine the process from ROCKS TO VISTAS.
I recalled the last area we lived in, Havre de Grace, MD with its sweeping views of the Chesapeake Bay, rolling farm land, forests, state park, quaint village, galleries....and then it came....
tumbling out, softer versions of earth, soil, villages, hillsides, trees, lakes...

RiverView Gallery in HDG is showing these last three paintings...fitting that this is where they are, over looking the bay, that served as inspiration.

Inspiration is a humbling gift...a handful of rocks, a pot of left over paint, a photo or two and memories, lots of memories.  
Smiles: Sharon

Around the World...the Food Market Way

For your enjoyment: a few photos of food markets that inspire me from around the world.

Sketch Journal Page

May our abundance be shared more equally with all.  

Local food banks, children backpack programs are a great way for all to share. 

Painting with Wax: Cambodian Inspiration

 Cambodia, not a traveller's normal destination. But our choice to go there was a life altering experience.  The people, the history, the wars, the culture, the struggles, the kindness of the people, the brown eyed children and the vast Angor Vat.

It has been three years since visiting Cambodia, but the influence lingers on.  Recently I started exploring encaustic paint....working with wax and oil. I couldn't quite figure out the images I was creating until I was reviewing my photos to "organize them."  And there it was:  my mind and imagination had subconsciously culled up the vast portholes, arches, caves, vistas, root encrusted relics....
             
 The following pieces are now framed in floating black and gold wood frames and debuting at the RiverView Gallery.  Unfortunately a photo can't show the depth of working in many layers of translucent wax and rich oil colors, but it is a luscious way to paint.  

A close up shot of the texture.

                   Going Deep Within            12x12 framed

                         Awareness               10x10 framed

           Epiphany    12x12 framed

            A Burst of Brilliance   11x14 framed

                   Meditation        11x14 framed

These last two paintings are an exploration of "painting" with wax and oil paint with various brushes and fingers to create a more realistic, less abstract piece.  It was an interesting approach with this medium.

To keep the "glow" on a piece of encaustic, one can periodically lightly rub with a  soft piece of flannel like cloth.  There is no need for anything else other than not hanging over a heater or in direct sunlight.  

RiverView Gallery  410-939-6401 or contact me if you are interested in one of these paintings.

I am working on new pieces which I will be excited to share at a later date. It was a stretch to work in an entirely new medium. A good stretch at that!!! Ah the possibilities.

Cleaning Out the Muffin Tin

A few weeks ago I shared this:

Muffin tin filled with acrylic paint....that was taking up frig space...not that i cook that much!

(so)

I scooped up gobs of paint and finger painted on several canvases. 

Then they sat and sat

waiting for "someone" to have an inkling of inspiration!

Ah, where is that pesky "inspiration" when you need her?

Shortly after a box full of Stripey Stones from the delightful Elizabeth Bunsen arrived in the mail.

Slowly stuff in my head started to percolate.

The final straw, hmm, stone that got inspiration moving was reviewing some photos of rock formations taken in Cambodia.

Click here to see the Photography and Prose posting of very intriguing ancient stones.

That did the trick....time to sit down and work on those canvases.

And a new series blossomed:

Cairns

Who would guess that gobs of color was under all of this mixed media work.

Each piece incorporates: Collage, Stablio pencil, Graphite Sticks, Crayons, Pastels, Colored Pencils, Acrylic and China Ink.

Everything but the kitchen frig...well almost everything.

The Cairn series will be UPSing to the RiverView Gallery in Havre de Grace, MD.

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Heart Thought: when Inspiration dries up, stalls, gets lost in the fog of to-do-lists where do you GO to get things mixed up and moving again? 

Sketchbook Snippets

  In the the tiniest of bits and pieces of personal time, I have ever so slowly been creating sketches of our time in Asia. As I look through the photographs of our visit with cultures that are so magnificent,  ancient in their beginning;  people of so many complexions, traditional clothing and head coverings; the exotic blend of spices, flowers, trees, palms, heat, humidity; experiences I would never thought possible in my American life, they beg for documentation outside of photographs. 

Ancient shrines, holy temples, sculptures of deities and animals; sunset skies framed by darkening palm trees; wavering reflections in the ponds, lakes and rivers  bring a sense of calm....but it wasn't always so. These countries have long histories of territorial, turf wars, clashes and genocide.

 Woman to woman confidants; gossip, musings of daily life, sharing of sorrows, worries, grief; giggles, teasing and jokes are filled with the patience of sitting, sifting, sorting, selling.

Men carry umbrellas. Women carry umbrellas. We carry umbrellas, usually to ward off the rain; they to protect themselves from the relentless sun and heat. Clothing that is airy and light, let the breeze pass through to cool the skin.

Umbrellas large, massive, shadow producing, protecting, a place to sit and visit. 

In general the Asian populations have more time, or make more time to sit...to JUST BE.

 Singapore at Chinese New Year. The color of choice, RED. Red, crimson and garnet colored paper, plastic, silk lanterns with flying golden tassels, dance their way across the humid sky. At night they light up like a thousand fire flies. 

 In our home we hang these festive lanterns from our chandelier, doorways and along the windows of my painting studio. They makes us all smile serving as a reminder to "lighten up."

Asian cultures LOVE their puppets. Simple wood pulley toys for children to sophisticated cut out leather, hand painted paper and fabric, trims and embroidery. Some are found in museums a testament to their place in their cultural history.

Puppets tell stories. These three puppets were constructed from hand painted paper. They told a story that I could not read. But my imagination came forth with its own interpretation. 

So a little peak into my journal. It is a small journal, manageable, sketches to take the place of long narratives, just notes jotted down here and there. Pencil, pen, watercolor, colored pencils, charcoal...bits and pieces of collage fodder from Asia.

It will be fun to share more sketches with you, my friends.