Choosing to accept what I saw, and being willing to try to depict it with my “unique” vision, turned what had been sad and daunting into an intriguing challenge. Looking and noticing became fascinating again. I realised I was seeing things that others could not.

Representing color well while not being able to see it, is a problem that I didn’t solve. I didn’t solve much before I had eye surgery, and was sorry that I hadn’t used my opportunity to see uniquely sooner. The bliss of healed eyes freshly seeing form, color, and light spurred my desire to keep paying attention to, and learning how to represent the awe inspiring world we live in.

Hideous and dreaded things we experience might not be all there is. Sometimes dreams, relationships, and productivity die, but joy may be hidden in loss. Hideous can turn to beautiful, and dreaded be welcomed.

I painted this retro-duck model with a black background initially, and it looked stunning. Stunning wasn’t enough. Every time I looked at it I loved the smooth technicality of the painting, but my imaginative inner voice kept asking what the duck was looking at, and where he was going.

I had been studying the paintings and method of Odd Nerdrum during that time, so it wasn’t long before the duck found himself and his environs sanded, scraped and repainted with layer upon layer over many months. This was a slowly evolving painting as each layer added depth and color to what had been a beautiful silky black with a lovely depth of color of its own.

Do I like it this way more? Yes, because I adore the complex and mysterious creatures and the depth of their swimming area. I get excited every time I look at them, and want to dive in and paint more. No, because I miss the stunning black.

The solution, as always, is to paint more. I’m very happy that I went on this painting adventure. I always try to push myself beyond what I know, as I enjoy the adventure of discovery.  With that, I leave you to wondering about why the pomegranate and turnip are with the duck. I’d love to know what you think.

This painting was juried into the 43rd Annual Open Juried Exhibition of the Laurel Art Guild. The exhibit opens to the public on March 4, at Montpelier Arts Center, in Laurel, Maryland. The reception and awards ceremony will be from 2-4 PM.

I’ve donated a painting to the #twitterartexhibit. This exhibit was created to help women and children in The Women’s Crisis Center in Moss, Norway. I’m glad to have this opportunity to help David Sandum in his effort to encourage and aid this charity.

iMourn the loss of a brilliant innovator.

iRejoice in his continued influence in my life.

iDream of being a tiny bit as creative and useful to the world as he.

Hurricane Art

 Beauty is all around, even in preparations for a hurricane.

Door war in MICA elevator.

There were a lot of us there, all excited and proud. The music and the graduates with flags and banners filled the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Watching my daughter graduate from MICA was a grand heart-warming, punch of a good time. I’m particularly thrilled because art is continuing through the generations. I followed my mom, a Parsons trained artist,  when I was a child, to see what she and her Taos Art Colony friends were working on. Art was life. Mine was rich in talented people to learn from. Then I had a daughter who loved living art with me. What a gift! To go from learning from living with an artist mother, to having the thrill of daily passing on bits of knowledge about art that can only be learned through interaction in the studio and in the field, has been wonderfully fulfilling. It’s a special thing to see a heritage pass on. I’m glad to know that this thing that possesses us through the generations is in good hands.