The One That Got Away

The One That Got Away

14" x 14"

acrylic
Sold

No. 10   See Leslie Saeta's 30 in 30 Challenge here.

Flight

Flight

8"x 8"

acrylic

nfs

30 Paintings 30 Days Challenge

The Meeting

The Meeting

8"x 8"

acrylic

No. 8   30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

(click the above link to see the other challenge entries)

Au Bord De La Mer

Au Bord De La Mer

(At The Seaside)

14" x 14"

acrylic
Sold

No. 7   30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

India

India

14" x 14"

acrylic

No. 6   30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

River's Edge

River's Edge

8"x 8"

acrylic

No. 5,  30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

Begin

Begin

9" x 11"

acrylic
nfs

Happy New Year!

I'm kicking off the New Year by joining Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings in 30 days challenge. Hope your holidays were happy, and that 2013 brings all good things your way.

Tiger Tiger

"Tiger Tiger"

acrylic on board

24"x 24"

Sold at auction for Toys for Tots

"Crash Into Me"

acrylic

8" x 8"

sold

Leap of Faith

Leap of Faith

acrylic on canvas

18" x 24"
Sold

Each moment of life holds a small miracle. Some days I forget to appreciate the treasure of existence. Here's to remembering. 

By A Still Pond

acrylic on canvas

18" x 24"
sold

I'm obsessed lately with the intersection of the physical and the spiritual world. That moment when things seen and things sensed merge or collide. 

We'll Be Okay If..

"We'll Be Okay If We Stay In The Tent,

And Other Misconceptions About Life"

acrylic on canvas

22" x 28"

For Adebanji's Journal: Mug Shots

Homeless

4"x 4" ea. acrylic on paper

We comfort ourselves by reliving memories of protection. Something closed must retain our memories, while leaving them their original value as images. Memories of the outside world will never have the same tonality as those of home and, by recalling these memories, we add to our store of dreams; we are never real historians, but always near poets, and our emotion is perhaps nothing but an expression of a poetry that was lost.

-Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space (1958)

Bachelard contends that our first home is forever imprinted on our soul. It is the place where we feel safe and free to dream.  I think, beyond shelter, home is a condition of feeling loved and secure. Of belonging. At home, true home, the world makes sense.  The act of being uprooted, whether through economic hardship, natural disaster, war, abuse, mental or physical infirmity, sets the stage for anxiety, fear and desperation.

The young married couple above were homeless before being arrested for and convicted of theft. For the next year and a half their home will be the Frederick County Detention Center. I don't know what combination of choice and circumstance led to their current predicament. I do wonder what dreams they may have for the future.

Adebanji, your book is on its way home.

May you all feel loved, and safe to dream.

pax,

Liz

For Dean

Rich is the Heart that finds Love

5" x 7-1/2"

acrylic on watercolor paper

This is my entry in Dean Haven's moleskine journal. We started our journal exchange about a year 1/2 ago, and I only have one more to receive before mine comes home full of beautiful artwork from twelve fellow painters around the globe. Very fun! I feel very lucky to have been able to participate.

Lilies for Vern

acrylic sketch on watercolor paper

8.5" x 11" 

I've always loved day lilies. They're resilient, wild, beautiful,  drought tolerant, and glorious for the short time they're with us.  This is my entry in Vern Schwarz's  journal for The Flying Moleskines journal swap.
 Pax.

Happy Easter, Happy Passover!

Reawakening

24" x 24"

acrylic on board

Happy holiday and happy Spring everyone!

October Sky for Sheila

7"x7"

acrylic on paper

For Sheila Tajima's journal in the Flying Moleskin's journal swap.

Fall is my favorite season. I love the deepening, more intense colors, the cool snap to the air,  the quickened pace.  Free from summer's humid weight, life feels sharper, clearer, more textured.  Light is lower, shadows longer, richer, and more mysterious. I imagine the trees are relieved to drop the burden of holding up all of those leaves, and sing when they decorate the landscape.

wishing you a bountiful new season...

The Flying Moleskins: Abstract Dreams

May You Soar

acrylic on paper

nfs

These are two pages for Dana Cooper, whose journal theme is dreams.  My dreams have been elusive lately, like shifting sand. A promise glimpsed of some distant, better future that dissolves when I try to understand its shape and content.  Fragments float, illuminated, forming landscapes both strange and somehow familiar. Echoes of joys remembered and not yet known.

Huge thanks to everyone who left such supportive comments on the show last month. We had a great turn-out despite the heat, and it was a success.   

White Rose

"Promise"

24"x 24"

acrylic on Claybord

This is one of 6 florals that I have hanging in a group show at the Delaplaine Visual Arts and Education Center through the end of June.  I'd never worked on Ampersand's Claybord before. Boy, does is soak up some paint.  The brush would be dry before I'd completed a stroke.  I put out a FB plea, and Manon told me she usually seals it first.  Ah ha.  Good to know for future pieces.   

Many thanks to Don Dunsmore for a lovely reference photo.

Flying Moleskins - Camille, Richard and Matisse's Open Window

acrylic on paper

7"x 10 (2-pages)

nfs

For Camille Olsen, who's journal theme is peace.  Must be the tropical heat here in Maryland, because my colors got away from me and turned all lime and melon and banana, and I swear I'm hearing Calypso music. Camille and her husband are standing near a very rough rendition of my favorite Matisse painting. (Yep, more sailboats).  My apologies to the Olsens if I'm not close to a likeness. We haven't met, but rumor has it, both have wicked senses of humor and that they are a colorful and fun-loving pair.

Thanks for all of your comments on the last post.  I appreciate it!

Peace out ;-)