Figuratively Speaking - New Consumers

10"x10" oil

Some of my concerns have been sneaking into my paintings lately.  I try not to be overly political or socially opinionated, but we all have issues that matter to us.  I love painting children, especially in poses that are natural and not posed.  These three Tweeners are conversing about something important in front of a fashion art poster.  I have 3 granddaughters so I am paying attention to the influences our culture has on them.  I heard the phrase "Pester Power" in terms referring to children influencing the buying habits of their parents.  I don't think this is new, it just seems more excessive and high dollar.  I remember pestering my mom to buy me the shoes I wanted.  There were tears involved.  I lost.  I got sturdy tie up shoes instead.  "No," was common in my parents' vocabulary. I am concerned about how advertising is helping to define how the young girls see themselves and forming a picture for them of what it means to be a girl.  On the other hand, I love to see my girls dressed in their lovely pink dresses as they explore the world and discover its magic and mysteries...like catching salamanders!  I may have to paint this scene!  Go Figure

Figuratively Speaking - Too Young

6"x6" oil

The background painting is located at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, which is my favorite art museum, so far.  I love the building which was completed at the end of the 19th century as a station for electric trains and an accompanying hotel.  It was renovated as a museum which opened in 1986. It is spectacular architecturally as well as the collection which spans the years 1848-1915 of western hemisphere art. The Impressionists  paintings make up a good portion of the collection.  This painting, The Red Ball, is by Felix Vallotton.  The flatness and odd horizon line of the painting give a sense of a child running after the ball and away from his/her caretakers.  It invokes a sense of insecurity, hence (in part) my title Too Young.  The second meaning has to do with the visitors pictured here.  We all know that obesity is epidemic with the US rating 6th in the world.  So "too young" refers to the generations of young people who are sacrificing good health for high calorie and low nutritional content foods.  I find it an interesting juxtaposition. Perhaps more of us should be running after that little red ball. Why am I thinking about chocolate right now???   Go Figure!

Figuratively Seaking - Idyllic Happiness

8"x10" oil

What is "Idyllic Happiness" to you?  This art lover is probably feeling pretty happy looking at beautiful paintings and carrying around her front papoose.  Giving birth to a perfect and healthy little one is a pretty good moment.  They painting she is looking at is by Gauguin, painted in 1897.  It is a representation of  Vairumati who is a legendary figure of the Maori people.  Gauguin was at a low point in his life when he painted this scene representing "Idyllic Happiness."  His colors are bright and cheerful even though he was suffering from syphilis and was feeling suicidal.  It is weird how so many artists of fame have such tragic stories and yet they have brought such joy to millions who have viewed their art.  Ironic isn't it?   Go Figure.... 

Figuratively Speaking - Seeking Approval

6"x6" oil

We certainly spend a good part of our lives seeking approval.  Whenever I meet someone who is not seeking approval, I admire them for their authenticity.  Unfortunately, frequently they have pronounced anti-social behaviors that keep them from feeling comfortable in the company of others. Like anything, there is a balance.  It works to seek approval as it validates our achievements, helps us to understand our tribes, and teaches us what social norms are appropriate.  The problem lies in how much approval we seek, from whom we seek it, and what are our motivations.  It can be crippling and keep us from achieving that authenticity that I frequently see in those on the fringes.  On the other hand, some of the most authentic people I have met are deeply spiritual.  They seek approval from a higher being and are freed up to be gentle and generous here in the Earthly realm.  In not seeking the approval of others, they are able to find joy in moments we are given and therefore give back what they can.  I admire this and it is something that exists both in and out of religious affiliation.  It is interesting though that some very religious people are also the ones who are least authentic and most judgemental. I am choosing to be as authentic as I can....but, I still care what you think about my painting....go figure!

Figuratively Speaking-Yoga Meditation Art

6"x6" oil

The wall painting is a Rothko.  I have gained a deeper appreciation for his work recently in my efforts to understand color.  I have heard myself (talking in my head) say, "I could spend the rest of my life studying color theory and application, and never get it all."  I think that is what Rothko (in part) spent his art career doing.  Sometimes, even when at a prestigious art museum, our bodies find a need for a little Yoga.  While her friend meditates on the Rothko, she is stretching her quads.  I spend a lot of my time doing art and doing Yoga.  It is the only way I can keep my body happy and keep my disposition positive.  Right now, I am also doing a significant amount of garden preparation which has kicked up my need for Yoga, as well as, chiropractic care and a desire for massage.  I am really excited to be getting ready to grow things and have kicked it off with an obsession with sprouting seeds and grains to eat.  It is hard work staying healthy.  I still need my chocolate though....go figure!

Figuratively Soeaking - Childlikeness

6"x6" oil

"You can't do the same thing over and over and expect different results."  I am not sure that is totally true.  Swimming laps is a good example, or perfecting any skill.  Doing the same thing over and over can refine it, teach you what you need to learn, and increase speed and confidence.  I am thinking about painting the same scene 100 times.  I haven't decided what to paint yet, but when I do, I am going to commit to doing it 100 times.  That sounds like a lot.  The above painting I have painted 3 times and they all look different.  I really like this image and the Bouguereau painting they are looking at.  Karin Jurick is my inspiration for these "Gallery Viewers" (she calls them art patrons).   She is the master in my opinion.  My husband has been waging a battle with squirrels over the bird feeders for millennium.  Squirrels are as tenacious as I want to be about my painting.  They are able to master any obstacle Carl puts in their quest to be gluttons for the bird's food.  Carl's latest trick is to hang slinkies on the poles.  So far, this has been successful and quite entertaining, but I know that it is temporary and I am laying my bets on the squirrels.  FYI:  There are 9 varieties of bird and at least 30 of them at the feeders now.  I guess when our teenagers moved out, Carl decided to spend the extra food money on birdseed.  I think a morning dove has fallen asleep under the feeder....just like teens, all they do is eat and sleep....go figure!

Figuratively Speaking - Julia

6"x6" oil

Julia is such a feminine name.  This is Julia Foster Ward painted by Jules-Joseph Lefebvre in the late 1800's.  Poor Julia lived a short life, dying when she was only 19.  The morning glories in her hair may symbolize her short existence as this painting was probably done after her passing.  Since morning glories mostly bloom in early morning and have a short existence, they would be an appropriate choice.  There are over 1,000 varieties of morning glories and they have been used for a variety of purposes from laxative use to vulcanizing rubber and also for creating hallucinogenic  effects.  This gallery viewer, who happens to be my sister, struck the same pose as poor Julia.  Lucky for me, my little sister is approaching 6 decades of life.  In those years she has raised 7 beautiful and talented children and now that she has time, she swims 1-2 miles a day.  She is proud of her age and what she has accomplished and, I am lucky to have her as my sister.  There is enough distance in our ages that we didn't really have much of a rivalry in our youth.  I always thought she was adorable and talented...I am sure she thought I was a fantastic big sister with a driver's license.....go figure!

Figuratively Speaking - Audience of Two (2nd try)

6"x6" oil

This lovely gallery viewer  (my sister) is only one of many who are sneaking a peak at Jupiter and Callisto under a shady tree.  This is a very voyeuristic painting.  First, Callisto was a River Goddess who attended to and was quite chummy with Diana who warned her against men and gods.  Jupiter  had fallen in love with Callisto so he tricked her by disguising himself as Diana.  Like all Greek myths, this is just the beginning of a confusing and tragic story.  So the painting on the wall is of Jupiter, disguised as Diana, wooing Callisto.  Part of what makes it voyeuristic is that cupid is observing them from behind the tree, not to mention all the gallery viewers who visit it at the St. Petersburg  Museum of Fine Art and, now, you who are looking at this little painting.  So, this is the rest of this tawdry story:  Callisto became pregnant, had a son, and was then turned into a bear by Jupiter's jealous wife, Juno.  Years later Callisto the bear saw her son in the woods and ran to hug him.  Fearing he was going to be attacked by a bear, he shot and killed
his mother.  They now reside together in the evening sky as the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper.  This story has been painted in many forms by many famous artists.  This version is by Angelica Kauffman, one of those rare 18th Century successful women artists whose story has lived to be told.  Although she was Swedish, she resided and was famous in both London and Venice.  And I thought my life was complicated...go figure!

Figuratively Speaking - Buddahs With Anonymous

5"x7" oil

Figuring things out......she is and so am I.  She is "Anonymous" and so are the makers of the Buddha's she is figuring out.  I wonder what questions are going through her mind....historical, cultural, material....maybe she is wondering if she can pick up some copies of these, made of resin, to put in her garden.  I like the patterns of straps on her blouse...very yoga-like...very zen and they echo the patterns of her tattoo, also a piece of artwork.  The shape of her bag and the shape of her skirt are also interesting patterns.  I am returning to work after traveling to help out family and then coming down with what I am calling "flying flu."  I am not sure it is actually flu, but it involves a week-long fever and generally feeling miserable. I seem to get it, or something similar, whenever I fly.  There has to be some way, short of encasing myself in an aseptic bubble, to avoid this.  It would be very cool though, if you could travel in a bubble....mmmm.....still figuring it all out.  Go figure!

Connecting

8"x10" oil  Price $200

Figuratively Speaking - Art as Communication
I saw a quote today in a post by Brain Pickings  (an online newsletter that is the source of almost all my reading material) that so caught my attention, I decided to write my own blog post around the idea.  Even though this was written about words, I think it totally applies to paintings which are just chemical colors on something flat, at the basic level, but come to life and create a magic at the hand of an artist.  Ursula K. Le Guin put it best in contemplating the magic of real human communication: “Words are events, they do things, change things. They transform both speaker and hearer; they feed energy back and forth and amplify it. They feed understanding or emotion back and forth and amplify it.”  
A good painting does the same thing.  It can be any style, any subject matter, but when someone is moved by it, it becomes a conversation.  
I work at an artists' guild gallery a few days every month and I  am always conscience that each person who comes in is seeking to interact with something.  What is amazing, is that with all the diversity of types of objects and art, there is a different person to appreciate each and every piece.  Frequently someone will fall in love with something that doesn't move me at all.  I really like that because it reminds me that I am only one little (well, not so little) person with one little opinion. Even though there are others who would agree with that opinion, it really doesn't make it more valid or right.  That is always a good lesson!

Catching Up

12"x12" Oil

This couple is in front of Georges Innes's "New Jersey Landscape" shown at the Clark Museum in Williamstown, MA. It is not the typical pastoral scene I associate with New Jersey, but then times have changed the scenery since 1891.  Innes believed that the spirit of God was present in the natural world.  This is what he was trying to convey in his landscapes, and as a result they are very ethereal looking with soft edges he rubbed with a cloth  I need to try that sometime!  My edges are usually pretty evident.

A follower of the Swedish philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg, Inness believed that the spirit of God was present throughout the natural world. Although this painting may represent a specific place, the artist was less interested in defining recognizable details than in conveying nature’s immaterial essence, here expressed in finely modulated colors that have been painted with a brush and then wiped with a cloth, so they blend together without contours. - See more at: http://www.clarkart.edu/Collection/15667#sthash.B1kat9qp.dpuf

A follower of the Swedish philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg, Inness believed that the spirit of God was present throughout the natural world. Although this painting may represent a specific place, the artist was less interested in defining recognizable details than in conveying nature’s immaterial essence, here expressed in finely modulated colors that have been painted with a brush and then wiped with a cloth, so they blend together without contours. - See more at: http://www.clarkart.edu/Collection/15667#sthash.B1kat9qp.dpuf

A follower of the Swedish philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg, Inness believed that the spirit of God was present throughout the natural world. Although this painting may represent a specific place, the artist was less interested in defining recognizable details than in conveying nature’s immaterial essence, here expressed in finely modulated colors that have been painted with a brush and then wiped with a cloth, so they blend together without contours. - See more at: http://www.clarkart.edu/Collection/15667#sthash.B1kat9qp.dpuf

Twilight in Boston

4"x8" oil

This lovely hippie girl is meditating on Childe Hassam's "Boston Commons Twilight." It is a lovely, warm painting.  The young woman caught my attention because of the bell bottom jeans and fringed purse which definitely gave me a Deja Vu moment.

Long Dresses (revised)

8"x8" oil

I just wasn't completely happy with my first stab at this painting.  I thought the gallery viewer was stiff and that was the problem, but after looking at it for a couple of days I realized the background magenta was just too colorful and drew too much attention so I neutralized it and now the person doesn't look odd to me.  The little painting on the left is by Tarbell and is called "Girl Reading a Book." It is my favorite part of this painting, not for the least reason, because it is so tiny and I think I got a reasonable representation of it.  Again, I have to say, Karin Jurick is my favorite painter of these types of scenes.

Long Dresses

I haven't done any of these gallery viewer paintings in a while.  Karin Jurik is my favorite artist who does these types of paintings.  There is a flow to her work, especially in the stance of the viewer that I feel I have not captured as well in this.  However I do really like the brushwork here and the colors are pretty yummy.  Getting a likeness of the painting on the left was a real challenge because it is so small.   So, all-in-all I like this, but I recognize there are things I need to work on.

Music

6"x6" oil

This took me a bit to figure out the floor and finally I just decided to add a red rug and that seemed to pull it together.  It is interesting that when I struggle with a painting, somehow the struggle just shows up in the painting.  Sometimes it helps and sometimes it just looks fussy and ruins it.  You decide.

It's a Joke

10"x10" oil

  A painting of a woman at the opera by Mary Cassatt is featured in this painting.  There is a man with opera glasses also looking at her and she seems to be looking at the young woman who are checking out a muted Monet.  Monet was a contemporary impressionist to Mary Cassatt, so it is believable that she would be checking out the competition!

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Aggressively Monet

8"x10" oil

When I walk into a gallery of Monet paintings it is like meditation, calming, pastel, pleasant with brilliant reflections.  This couple offered such a striking contrast.  Even though she was a small, petite woman, her posture and what it does to her coat gives her an almost batman like aggression.  There is no one who does these types of paintings better than Karin Jurick, but I keep trying my hand at them because it so appeals to me.

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True Story

7"x7" oil

Really it is a "True Story."  I was cleaning out my studio and had the doors open (I have garage doors on my studio so that I can work "outside" when the weather is warm enough).  A hummingbird flew in, got confused and couldn't figure out how to exit.  I anxiously watched as it first flitted to the flower paintings hanging then banged into the lights.  I didn't want to startle it more so I went inside and made some "nectar," put it in a feeder and hung it in the studio, to no avail.  I was worried about the poor little thing who needs to constantly eat, and talking to it gently didn't seem to help.  Finally it landed on my table.  I picked it up gingerly and it didn't move, except that it looked at me.  I carried it out and put it next to a red flower and it didn't move.  I even tried to coax it to take nectar, but it just laid there.  Then it perked up and flew away.   In the meantime, I was able to study it pretty well.  I wanted to do this like I do my "Gallery Viewers" series so I did a fancy frame, but I am wondering if I should just do the plain black frame that I use on my paintings.  BTW, I signed both the flower painting and the hummingbird looking at the flower painting. One thing about hummingbirds is that they are more about movement than color and shape.  Artist Brande Arno is amazing at capturing this movement.  I have included an image of one of her paintings, below.

"Laureen and Lois"  by Brande Arno 6"x6" oil

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Contemplating Shapes of Fear

6.5"x8.5" oil

The painting these three are looking at is called "Shapes of Fear" by Maynard Dixon.  It is a very powerful piece in the Smithsonian American Art Museum.  It is an interesting idea...fear having a shape.  This painting is a bit tighter than I generally do, but overall I like it a lot.  It is funny when people talk about my work as something they can't imagine doing because they "can't draw a straight line."  It is funny, because I think that drawing or painting a straight line is really hard!  Painting a flower is not easy, but it is forgiving.  Architecture is loaded with those irritating straight lines.

I am getting ready for my first art fair next weekend (Art in the Park).  It is a ton of work!!! I have a much better appreciation for those artists, like my friend Ann McFarren, who actually make a living doing art fairs.  This painting will be shown there if it is dry enough to take. 

SOLD

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