the woman in wood

In painting, I have always been intimidated by faces.  I have taken a few drawing and painting classes that involved landscapes and portraits but I could never get the measurements quite right and was always discouraged.  It seemed that "real life" was not in my painting realm, and that was okay with me.  I think more abstractly so it would make sense that my art would follow in suit with that.

However, I have recently become somewhat obsessed with faces in my artwork.  I have begun to explore this new realm and have found such freedom in it.  The proportions may never be exactly right but hey, it's abstract and it's mine..and therefore it doesn't seem to matter so much.

My husband found this old frame in our attic and I have been staring at it for weeks trying to decide what to do with it.  Finally- a few weeks ago- I just sat down to paint it and this is what came of it.  Frankly, I like it a lot.

Sometimes I surprise myself.

Eye See You

I painted this one before Halloween but thought I would (finally) post it.  Obviously I need to be better at updating my blog.  No real explanation to this one...I just had an idea- surprising for me!- and went with it.  It didn't turn out at all how I had envisioned it, but life usually happens that way! 

I am happy with the way it turned out.

"But the eyes are blind, One must look with the heart." 

[-antoine de saint-exupery]

Her

My sister, Annalise, asked me to create a painting for her for her birthday this past November. She said she didn't care much about what it looked like, she just wanted the theme to be around "nature."  It sounds silly, but it made me nervous to have a theme.  For the most part, I never have an idea of what I am going to paint; it just sort of..happens. My thoughts on this blog are not pre-thought but rather an after-thought, a reflection of my experience.  So beginning a painting with an idea, especially under the pressure of someone else's expectations, was intimidating to me.  However, I did it and this is what came of it.

Like many of my paintings, I begin one way and at some point, there is a shift into something that I can't explain in words.

This is the note I wrote to her that went along with the painting:

"I know this was probably not what you were expecting for a nature painting.  Where are the leaves and rainbows and trees?  I have a hard time beginning a painting with an idea, but I did try this time- for you!  I was trying to do some kind of rainy, sunset, ocean thing but it wasn't working and I was getting frustrated.  I stopped to take a breath and look at it before starting completely over, and that's when I saw HER.

It's interesting what happens when art and beauty happens to be there in the midst of your mess.  Often because we are so discouraged and frustrated with what we want it to look like and how we want things to be, that we completely miss it.  Not until we step back, take a breath, and look from a new perspective, can we actually see what's there and what was always meant to be.

I call it "accidental art" and it's my favorite, but it's really no accident at all.  There is purpose in every movement, every happening, every brush stroke.  Even when we can't feel it or see it, it is there.  She is there.

Out of the mess, comes beauty.
Out of chaos, comes peace.
Out of the ashes, comes life.

There is purpose in all of nature and in all of YOU.

So, no, this is not your average painting of a tree.  It is not a nice, well-developed landscape.  And yet, the very essence of nature is emanated through it.

It radiates.
And so do you."