Show at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral

Gathering: Alone in a Crowd, acrylic on panel, 24 x 24

"Do you know about 'Quirkyalone'?" a viewer asked me when he saw this painting. 

I had never heard the word before that moment, but I asked him about it and then looked it up on line. According to Wikipedia:

"Quirkyalone is a neologism referring to someone who enjoys being single and generally prefers to be alone rather than dating for the sake of it"

 The word has been around for 15 years and this was the first time I heard it. 

There is no greater compliment than to hear that a painting touches someone in a meaningful way.

This painting is part of a group show of abstract work with some paintings based on a specific triad of paint colors. I hope you will be able to come and see the show!

"Triad at Trinity" work by  Portland Women in Abstract Media
 Artists' reception March 9 at 11:00 am
Trinity Episcopal Cathedral 
147 NW 19th Ave Portland, OR 
503.222.9811

sense of self

Gathering a Sense of Self, 22 x 22, acrylic

"Every autobiography is concerned with two characters,

a Don Quixote, the Ego, 

and a Sancho Panza, the Self."

W.H. Auden, Selected Essays

I can feel it happening. With each year, I feel the disparate parts of my life pulling together in a weird synthesis. My interests and areas of serious study form partnerships in my mind and come out in unexpected ways. Music (of course), Literature, Psychology, Seminary, and Art swirl together and make a new kind of sense. Sometimes, jibberish. Sometimes a beautiful language with familiar rhythms. 

While my physical eyes seem to weaken with age, I have increasing clarity about myself. Not just the seemly parts, the admirable qualities, but also the darker side, those shadow elements. I can not ignore them because they are sharply focused and obvious. Both seemly and unseemly, fitted together without apology.

It is a gathering of my sense of myself.

"With age comes wisdom, but sometimes age comes alone." Oscar Wilde

I am on the wisdom track.


Santana "She's Not There."

spectators

A Gathering of Spectators, 22 x 22, acrylic on paper

In some ways, I am a spectator. I look, study, watch and seek to understand. Then I think, think, think. And then, I express. It comes pouring out in my paintings.

Lately, I've been paying attention to how people gather. In this painting, it seems to me that just as these three spectators are watching me, I watch them, too. So, the gathering is really not just about them, it is about the viewers of the painting, too.  Them. Us. Back and forth. Watching. And gathering.

Probably because this notion disturbs me, this song comes to my mind. The Undisputed Truth. "Smiling Faces Sometimes."

at first sight

At First Sight, 22 x 22, acrylic on paper

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,

while loving someone deeply gives you courage.

Lao Tzu

Leonard Cohen "Dance Me to the End of Love."

unexpected gathering

"Gathering" finished, 22 x 30, acrylic on BFK

The final version of this painting came through a series of responses to this question:

what would happen in a gathering of aprons?

charcoal drawing with transparent acrylic

Since I love drawing, this stage of the painting was a joy. Loose charcoal lines laid out the placement of the aprons. The last apron became something more with the suggestion of the head and legs. I looked at the painting at this stage for a long time before doing anything else. For all of its interest, it lacked a stabilizing horizontal shape.

stabilizing the horizontal plane

How best to do that? A line would have worked. A horizontal block of color would have worked, too. Or, to continue with the idea, why not an apron?

comes forward, goes back

That feels better. Now I can play with pulling some of the shapes forward and pushing others back.

finished!

Sarah McLachlan "Building a Mystery."