Natural Abstraction Yet Form

I hike all over the place here in Western Colorado and Eastern Utah. I have a husband who loves to stop the car and jump out as do I. We have found some really interesting spots around here, and while he is off looking for who knows what, I am always studying patterns.

I love to look at the ice especially around Moab. The patterns that form in conjunction with the red rocks are amazing. They always take my breath away. I love to watch how the snow here in Western Colorado sparkles in the sunlight and turns into shades of blue and purples in the shade forming these gently curving patterns of color. I love to look at the rocks that have been carved by the river...with all of their interesting colors and shapes...the patterns that the water forms.

This weekend I stumbled across an old tree that fell long ago protruding through the hardened ice of spring. Upon it were the most interesting designs carved by ice, snow, rain, wind and sun...I was mesmerized, and while Bill was off playing in the river, I knelt beside it in awe. It was beautiful. It was amazing...it was a stunning piece of artwork carved by nature, carved by Spirit...carved by the beauty of the seasons. As artists, we have struggled for so long to obliterate form, to move away from it and plunge into the void of abstraction and freedom. However, as I gazed at this old tree, I realized that abstraction exists within form....they exist side by side and there is no need to obliterate one to find the other.

Humans are a species of absolutes; rarely do we allow ourselves to enjoy the wonder of the Paradox. My elder once told me that whenever I found a Paradox, I found a truth. I do believe this, and I believe this old tree taught me a Paradox today..... abstraction and form....no need to separate...enjoy and celebrate the uniqueness in which both can be expressed.

Spring and the River

I have lived here for almost 16 years. The longest I have stayed anywhere, and a lot of that has to do with the San Miguel River. It is my heaven on earth, and whenever I try to leave it, I feel it calling me back.

The river has taught me more about light and shadow and how forms are created through the two more than any art class ever has. A simple rock never looks the same throughout the day or the seasons, it is always changing. It may stay in the same spot, but light, weather, water, shadows always and forever are painting new ways of looking at the same object reminding us that nothing ever stays the same.

I have sat along the river and watched the seasons pass for several years...I've watched the ice melt and fall into the river, sap rise within the trees, leaves emerge, grass turning to green as flowers bloom in abundance while the river roars from the snow that the mountains finally let go of as they embrace Spring. Of course all of the animals are migrating...some passing through, some staying and some leaving until next winter....and then summer comes and the leaves change from that emerald green to a deep, lush green...the birds of summer are here as the chirping of the beautiful hummingbirds dance through the forests...the river is calmer, and the water warms...then Fall comes with the sap descending and the leaves change to yellows and oranges and reds...the grass becomes brown, and the river slows as the warmth begins to fade...the water becomes chilly, and the migrations have begun...and then winter blows in with a cold arctic wind, flakes fall from the sky, and all of life hibernates even if they are still roaming...ice forms along the river creating thick bridges, and everything seems to be at rest waiting for those first warm winds of Spring.

I have learned more about art simply observing all of these changes...noticing the colors as they shift and grow and fade...how light plays with all of life...and the shadows remind us of the mysteries. I have learned more about myself and my relation to this world simply by sitting underneath my favorite pine tree and listening and watching. I am so grateful to have found this place....I don't know if I will ever paint it; this area hasn't asked me to or visited me in my dreams as a painting yet....

Maybe one day when it feels I have learned what I need to learn....

Happy Spring Equinox to everyone...yes, this is early, but I don't want to be late...enjoy, go out into Nature and celebrate the beauty that surrounds you by simply sitting, listening and watching....

Leaving What's Known

Been travelling through the desert...so many interesting colors emerge in crevices and rock formations. I needed this journey after Jane's death. The desert let's you empty the pain in your soul only to fill it back up with the healing energies of the Earth Mother. What amazing colors she expresses herself in. She has gifted with me three new images to begin working with.

Sadness Opens A New Door

I have been seeing everything differently of late. Ever since my best friend Jane died, my visions are changing...dream like visions...angles...lines...light...all so different. I wonder what they will become. Jane was my biggest supporter regarding my art, and losing her has been devastating...but my sadness seems to have opened a different door....need to explore this.

Wheat Field With Crows

Everyone is always trying to analyze Van Gogh's Wheat Field With Crows. It is an amazing painting that I got to see in person years ago in New York City. There was this spectacular exhibit documenting the last fifteen months of his life through paintings, sketches and letters to his brother. I was there when it opened that morning, and I was one of the last to leave when they closed it for the night. This was one of the paintings that I spent probably an hour, maybe more, gazing at. So many feelings come up as I look at this painting. The colors and movement are fabulous...and yes, there is the dark and stormy sky with the crows flying over an illuminated wheat field. Many say that this was his suicide note, or the painting that showed us that he was contemplating suicide. Yes, it is definitely a possibility.

However, why do we have to analyze things to death? Why can't we just "be" with a painting? Maybe Van Gogh wasn't trying to send us a message about his feelings at all. Maybe he was simply in awe of what he saw. Today I was driving through a snowstorm, and when I got down to the lowlands, the sun peaked out from behind the clouds. I was driving by a wheat field, and the sun brought that field to a blaze. The sky was a purplish blue, and crows were flying on the wind currents just above the field. It was an amazing sight to see. That natural compliments of the yellow and the purples of the impending storm were spectacular. I pulled over to the side of the road and just watched. I felt uplifted from the redundancy of my daily routine. I saw the magic that emerged from a simple glimmer of light that founds its way between a few clouds. The darkness of the crows perfectly accented the scene.

As I look at the painting right now I could say that he saw the light on the other side of the storm that he felt trapped within. Yes, maybe he made his choice as he painted this. However, I also see a gift of beauty that he gave to all of us. I see the awe he felt, as I felt today, witnessing this moment. He felt the power of nature, and he was hoping, maybe, that we would pull over to the side of the road and see it. Remember, the Industrial Age was underway when he was alive. He saw the pace of life quickening. He saw how people were in awe of the machine instead of the sunflower. Maybe this was his note to us to remember, to slow down, to enjoy, to celebrate, and to not miss out on the gifts of Mother Nature all around us.

Mitakuye Oyasin

Colors

So often while I am at an art walk or doing a show I am told, "You must be so brave to paint like that." I am never sure if that is a compliment or not. I rather doubt it. The truth is I'm not brave at all. I am simply painting as I see it.

Ever since I can remember, when the lights go out at night, I see colors swirling through the darkness taking on all sorts of shapes. They then blend back into the swirling colors only to take on new shapes. Everything I look at has these bright and vivid colors swirling through it. I dream in color. Never do I dream in black and white, and for me, I can't even imagine that anybody does.

I'm not sure why I see things the way I do, and I never ask or try to figure it out. I simply accept it and I paint it. I usually start off with a sketch that is in black and white. I have sketched since I was eight or nine years old. I love to work with the pencil and explore all the ways to create texture, depth, contrast, and values. I then stand my notebook up somewhere, and I look at it over several days or months. I let it seep into my subconscious or my Spirit I guess, and then when it is ready, the subject lets me know.

I then go up to the studio and start working. I never choose the colors. They choose themselves. I rarely even think during the process...it is very instinctual and comes from another place that my mind is not allowed to go to. I am usually as surprised as anyone else by the finished result.

You can call me brave...I know what you mean..."Yikes!" I'm nothing of the sort though. I am simply painting how I see it and feel it.

Sprials Swirling Through

A lot of people write to me about feeling stuck with their artwork. They can't get themselves out to the studio, they never have enough time, or all they create comes out ugly.

Well, we have all had those ugly periods, and I believe that they are vital to artistic growth. Lee Krasner went through grey period...everything she did came out in greys. Before I even really worked with colors, I worked in black and white for 20 years. I loved to sketch, I loved to work with contrasts and values with a pencil and white paper. In my opinion, that is how I learned about color...through black and white.

I totally understand about procrastination with regards to getting out to the studio. The studio, which is wherever you create, can be daunting. It is the place where we come face to face with ourselves each time. We look into the proverbial mirror and even if we are painting a landscape, there is something within that painting that contains something about ourselves that we are trying to express to the world. A painting is never just a painting...Art is the most ancient form of communication, and because of art, we can learn from the Ancient Ones that once lived in the same locations we live now. When we paint, or sculpt or create digital art, we are exposing something about our lives or our souls to the world.

Picasso had a very difficult time getting out to the studio. He learned to create excuses to get himself out there. His studio was VERY messy to say the least, so sometimes he would make the excuse that he was going out to the studio to clean it or to clean his brushes. Once he got out there, he would see his paintings and immediately get to work.

I hear a lot of people saying, "I just don't have the time." I know that one very well, because I used to use it all the time. A friend of mine told me to work ten minutes each day and see what happened. I committed to those ten minutes, and as time went by it grew and grew to where it is now my profession! I challenge you to work for ten minutes a day on something of your own...just ten minutes, and see where it takes you.

This past week has been very difficult for me. A friendship came to an end, and this can be the worst time to work on an existing painting. Of course I did, and I turned this beautiful work of a baby deer into a baby deer that looks like it wants to eat humans. If you are upset, pull out an entirely new piece of paper or canvas, and let your emotions out on that....not always a good idea to unleash painful emotions upon a work in progress. However, you never know...it may help.

I was so locked up inside that I couldn't break free. When I get like this, I often do a painting that is simply for me, nobody else, and is my way of breaking loose. It usually is of absolutely no subject matter and is a way to loosen my hand and my eye. I always see swirling spirals before I fall to sleep each night, so I decided that would be a great thing to paint and to loosen up my hand...so this is what I did, and now I am back to painting and creating....