I have painted abstractly my whole life, rarely inspired to recreate a photographic likeness. I have drawn the figure, objects here and there, but my passion has always been to make art as one makes dreams, without conscious thought. We grow our eyelashes to a specific length without deliberation, we digest food and repair cells everyday, why not make paintings guided by instinct.
Yet-
Within realism there are so many similar variables with abstraction -composition, mapping values and perspective. And, as with music, abstract art uses a formal language - rhythm, tone, harmony, line, hue, pictorial depth, surface treatment, etc. There is always more to learn!
So my journey took be off the path of abstraction into the fields and meadows of realism. Worshipping the Divine by translating the world’s wonders into pigment arranged on a surface. Here are some of the fruit of my endeavors into realism:
Huddlestone Arch
oil on board
8” x 10”
This is the first landscape I ever painting en plain air, from life, in Central Park. An exciting day of communing with nature, it was painted in the heart of New York City. The Huddlestone Arch is in 'The Ravine,' mid-park at 105th Street, and I highly suggest you search it out - not only for this bridge that is held together by gravity alone, no mortar or pins, but the walk through The Ravine is spectacular.
Lone Tree
oil panel, 10" x 8"
This is another scene from Central Park of a lone tree in the forest. It's tortured past written on its posture and missing limbs, it was an honor to paint its portrait.
Black Begonia in Green Glass
oil on panel, 10” x 8”
I have been a card-carrying Knickerbocker Begonia Society member and have a passion for the variety of begonia leaf shapes and colors. The velvety blacks are especially compelling. This is ‘Black Truffles’ and is easier than most. I love how this proud leaf poses in its delicate glass.
Maple Wings on a Perch
oil on panel
10" x 8" (18.5" x 16.5" framed)
Glass, flowers and dried leaves highlight the fragility of life.
Like a poem with few elements,
these still lifes were inspired by Japanese aesthetics:
Asymmetry, simplicity, elegance, and subtlety.
Queen Anne's Lace & Hydrangas
oil on panel
7" x 5" (11" x 9" framed)
SOLD
I made this flower arrangement of Queen Anne’s Lace and Hydrangas with bundles of grass and freesias for a gallery reception. Flowers are miraculous bursts of delicacy from robust bushes. They boggle the mind with their architectural intricacies. Curating a bouquet is an honor, a form of worship of the miraculous world we live in.
Green is becoming one of my favorite colors, from soft and soothing to harsh and brash, it has an extensive expressive range. Here the green supports the white’s clean purity while adding movement and rhythm.
Alsorts in a Cordial Glass
oil on board
7"x 5" (12” x 10” framed)
A candy dish is a cordial welcome in a parlor. Alsorts are a traditional English sweet that delights the eye as well as the tastebuds, as a cordial would - this combination seems obvious yet surprising.
”I could feel those blue "dots" melting - both gritty and sweet. Peeling the layers of the square ones to eat individually, a messy child that continued into adult hood. I'm going to hot-foot out tomorrow to buy some!” - observed Kay Mertens, my Antique Lace Dealer
White Oak Leaf on Velvet
oil on panel
7" x 5"
Like a body sitting proudly, this white oak leaf feels almost human. Dried leaves have captivated me for years, and I love their animated presence. Like cloud-gazing, it is possible to see so many incarnations.
This is one of many leaf portraits that I have painted. The red velvet was an especially challenging quality to paint, and though it isn’t technically impressive, I learned a lot. “It isn’t what you do to the painting, it’s what the painting does to you.” - Sarah Sedwick (?), painting instructor extraordinaire
Scratched Back
oil on panel
20” x 16” (28” x 24” framed)
Schopenhauer observed that ‘The nude distracts the viewer from beauty by arousing lust.” Noting that it ‘charms’ … think of that word…it is a magic spell, an incantation, a talisman to render a person helpless in its power.
Drawing the figure is a rite of passage for every artist and a marvel-filled exercise of discovery. To achieve a stain-glass feel, I used only transparent pigments - so the painting has a glow to it. Instead of white, I scratched the paint back, so the surface is heavily scratched, thus the title.
“Practice is Enlightenment.”
Little Boy Blue with Proteas
oil on panel
7" x 5"
SOLD
I made this ceramic vase, 'Little Boy Blue,' in 2009 and painted it in 2019 with summer flowers. This small painting has a lot of details, and is one of my favorites.
“Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn,
The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn.
Where is that boy who looks after the sheep?
He's under a haystack, fast asleep.”
from Tommy Thumb's Little Song Book (c. 1744)
Confession:
The summer of 2019 I tore my rotator cuff, putting a kibosh to easel painting for a while…I had surgery that August and during my recovery began thinking of drawing directly into thick paint with the quick doodles I have drawn for years. When I was able to paint again I developed Labyrinths …my flying dreams…
I am not finished with realism and enjoy the meditation of deep study. Like Etudes on a piano, they make you stronger. The challenge of discerning an exact color, where a form is in space, and how to arrange elements to create a pleasing whole are captivating aesthetic pursuits. … and nudes …
Questions I wrestled with are: “How can Realism go beyond Craft?” “What is the difference between an Artist and a Painter?” Of course, valuations are relative…Craft can be more useful than Art, and a Painter more functional than being an Artist.
Playing the piano is different than Typing,
as Gymnastics is from Dance,
as Copying a photo is from Art.
Ultimately we all want more Art in our Craft and better Technique in our Art!
“Our mind is the canvas on which the artists lay their colour; their pigments are our emotions; their chiaroscuro the light of joy, the shadow of sadness. The masterpiece is of ourselves, as we are of the masterpiece.”