Today I went to the Gallery and set up for my month long show. I have lots of space and various sizes of paintings. The day starts sunny and cold but turns into a wonderful warm day. I sat, had coffee and breakfast at Top Dog in Morro Bay before I set up the show. While I was there, I made my tags for the paintings. It has been a while since I sat and listened to people in a coffee shop. There is a certain amount of comfort sitting and listening to conversation that covered a range of subjects.
What are these ladies in "The Ladies of Spring Song" doing? Well, they are delighted that there is birdsong and warm sunshine. They are dancing and casting their fate to the wind, a warm breeze because there is a dragonfly. Dragonflies are transformed into adults and have amazing flight capabilities. They are able to hover and fly forwards backwards and up and down. They have spectacular colors which sparkle with the sunlight. When you see Dragonfly, you know the day will be warm.
The power of Dragonfly brings to the tapestry of life is skill. They are experts at what they do. If you have skills that support you well, that does not mean you should stop learning and growing and adapting. We need to continue to gain knowledge and abilities for the future, even if we are quite skilled at something.
These ladies are carefree and happy. They are dancing to celebrate spring and the music of birdsong. Sometimes when I walk in the morning along the Lake, I hear the sounds of birds, meadowlarks, robins, hawks and even blackbirds. Their music brings a wonderful melody to the air. Wouldn't it be wonderful to just throw you fate to the wind and dance with your friends in the nude? Well, that is what they are doing in a field of lovely flowers. How lucky is that?
Mermaids Song
I woke one morning and decided to do a mermaid painting. What is there about the mystical creature half human being and half fish? She is the mighty sea goddess that protects the depths of the sea. Sailors saw them in the waves. Ran, as she is known in Scandinavia, Sedna, the goddess of the sea and honored by the Inuit people and Yemoja is the mother of all waters on earth in Nigeria, Central America, Haiti and Cuba, to name a few. So, this is one of my interpertations of the mermaid.
The use of colorful papers, sheet music and metallic pigments started the work. As it evolved, I looked for the perfect Maiden to add into the picture half watercolor and half acrylic paints. She is surrounded by the fish as if they are her pets. This was a fun painting because it was easy to paint. I had several mermaids to work with from life drawing. This one was a cut out of watercolor paper as is the next.
In this group of work, I did 3 mermaids and 2 of them will be in the show.
La Bella Sirena
This painting is the largest one in the show. I imagined the mermaid swimming to shore to sit on a rock and watch the sunset. The stars are popping out of the sky, the sun has already set. There is a sailboat and people in the boat. From my collection of stamps, I found a dolphin and sea turtle. There is also a lighthouse stamp. The waves crash on the rock and she looks to the sailboat. A seagull fllies over. She is more traditional, her tail more fishlike. I imagine that she will jump into the sea and follow the boat until the sky is completely dark. Then again, perhaps she will watch for all the stars to come out on this dark clear night and then depart to go back to her home.
The work on this canvas was painted many layers to achieve rich color. This was a week in progress. The painting and contributing elements were researched even the stars, you see the big dipper and surrounding stars. Inspiration came from trips to the ocean. Pismo Beach is only 8 miles from the house and the color of the ocean seems to change with the light. Sometimes I wonder if the surfers see visions as they paddle to catch the waves.
This is the gift of warmth and growth. After the winter is over, a place of innocence and trust. It is a place of introspection, of looking within ones spirit. She imagines what life was like in the past. Where did we come from? What is it that makes us create. She tells her lover many stories as she imagines them in her mind. Spread before her are maps, stamps and ephemera she has collected. She is my version of Scheherazade.
When creating this painting I imagined the beauty of the female human form stylized. Drawing on the sheet music creates an interesting "click" in the brain as if a switch is turned on. My 5 minute sketches in life drawing are created on the sheet music. The colors and papers add to the story.
Feathers are the symbols of prayers. They represent the Creative Force.
The Hand represents the presence of Man, his work, his legacy, his achievements. It also represents the Creative Spirit.
Arrows connote direction for a movement power of travel and the pathway breath of the life force.
This is the story but you may see something in the work that is your own story.
The power enters the soul. It is the beginning of the dreamer within. The dreaming soul contacts the higher planes and brings back visions that serve as fundamental guide posts in life. Sympathy for life grows.
"The Fireside Women Warriors" developed while I painted. I became aware that the colors I was using were the colors of the evening campfire. These ladies were painted on sheet music. There is always music in my studio while I paint. Sometimes an image comes into my mind and I must capture it. Other times the image emerges while I paint.
I love the cave art. It is beautiful and enticing. Just yesterday I read an interview with Werner Herzog in Archaeology magazine about the 3D film that he made in Chauvet Cave in southeastern France. It is facinating to imagine what this art looks like from the pictures we have all seen. I have incorporated the animals in the work I paint and most likely will continue.
Working on my show as Featured Artist at Gallery at Marina Square in Morro Bay, California for the last months, I have produced 30 paintings. Some are on display in the Gallery, others will be on display the month of March. I will be posting images from this show in the following days. There were 3 paintings that I decided to keep. The "Fireside Women Warriors" is one of those paintings I am keeping.
More to come...
