Well, they called my name...
It was what I was born for... to look, to listen...
Mindful ~ by Mary Oliver
Every day
I see or hear
something
that more or less
kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle
in the haystack
of light.
It was what I was born for -
to look, to listen,
to lose myself
inside this soft world -
to instruct myself
over and over
in joy,
and acclamation.
Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,
the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant -
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,
the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help
but grow wise
with such teachings
as these -
the untrimmable light
of the world,
the ocean's shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass?
Captivated by light, color, line...NYC's High Line
I enjoy a handful of revolving obsessions. Visiting New York City's High Line has been at the top of my list for some time. I first read about it a year ago and it piqued my interest. For the few of you who may not know...the High Line is a public park built atop a historic freight rail line elevated above the streets on Manhattan's West Side. I had seen photos of the space..intriguing, the way natural plantings, sculptural art and imaginative architectural details were incorporated into a space that is not only functional but also, quite visually inspiring. So, when I found myself in NYC last month for the Surtex show, naturally, I made time for a side trip.
Yes, it's absolutely worth the trip and yes, bring a camera and try to go on an off hour so you can really wander and play freely up there...So many beautiful angles and juxtapositions of form, line and light. But as you'll see from my pics below, I got a bit sidetracked when I noticed the windows.... They were luminous in the afternoon light...Blues and greens, the colors of the sea. They called to me, of course, the softest opaque glass warmed by the sun. And so I stayed for a while...captivated by the light, the colors, the line.
Baby It's Cold Outside
How can one not be inspired by this?
Look past the ice and see the texture, the sensual line, the shadows, the refraction of light, the colors (lilac, pale pink and the softest golds)...the delicate translucence. I see so much more than icicles when I look upon these stunning images and all I'm thinking, dreaming, longing to do is try to capture the magnificence in a watercolor painting....
Inspiration is the key to any artists true success. It's that magic Muse, that often indefinable yet, oh so recognizable spark that marks the beginning of an idea or vision. It moves you towards creation and often guides you along the way. For me, that moment of inspiration usually begins with the distinct physical sensation of pulse quickening and heart beats which makes perfect sense to me...When we truly pay attention we notice that the heart leads the way, most of the time.
Such is the case with many of my new paintings and designs here in the studio. I've been paying attention to the natural beauty around me and I've been newly inspired and refocused on painting during these cold Winter months. I look forward to sharing my new work with our clients, galleries, stores and friends in the coming weeks. Good stuff coming, that I hope will make your heart beat just a little faster.
Artist Inspiration - Egon Schiele
Austrian Painter, Egon Schiele (1890-1918)
"At present, I am mainly observing the physical motion of mountains, water, trees and flowers. One is everywhere reminded of similar movements in the human body, of similar impulses of joy and suffering in plants." E. Schiele
I had the pleasure of closely viewing many of Schiele's drawings and sketches at the Neue Galerie in New York a few years ago. His figurative works are easily defined by the detailed bone structure he managed to capture...the bones, muscle and joints beneath the skin. Notable was the absolute delicacy of each often heavy, line...a talent to express strength, grace and sinew all within the same line...don't you think?
Having studied and worked alongside fellow Modernism heavy weights such as Gustav Klimt and Oskar Kokoscha, many of his portraits, erotic in nature, have a tense beauty that seems to come from within. Schiele favored geometric shapes and his portraits have a twisting, bending, jerky, angled presence about them. Favoring a muddier palette, his work was often punctuated with jolts of intense color. His paintings and sketches are both visually
stunning and unnerving at the same time.