Themes...

Dappled 2   oil on canvas   40 x 30 x 1.5

I believe that it is the path of the serious artist to paint those things, those ideas, that are important to her...those remnants that when left behind, will help to decipher the life of said artist.  I did not set about painting with any themes in mind., but I did follow my interest and paid attention to my intuition.  After several years, I realized  that one of my interests is "things dappled", things wabi-sabi, those things of pied beauty.  I am certain that what lies beneath this whole spotted and imperfect notion, is a distrust of black and white thinking as well as a personal dislike for the purebred, the pedigreed.

Thus, one of my themes is "things dappled".  I hope to continue all this vein for some time to come. "Dappled" and "Dappled 2" have been included in the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve annual May exhibition.

Glory be to God for dappled things--
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches' wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced--fold, fallow, and plough;
And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise Him."
— Gerard Manley Hopkins (The Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins)

P.S. I was a little freckle-faced girl.

Things Dappled

Self-Taught   watercolor   12.25 x 9.25

I have long had a great love for things dappled....things with spots, gradations, textures and so-called imperfections. For me, they are gist of life. Painting is a legacy. We painters are choosing to make our thoughts and our preferences somewhat permanent, dependent on the venues where our work is shown. For many years, I have wanted to do a series of work on things dappled and am hoping that my ideas will be realized in the coming years. I often paint to music.....songs by The Red Hot Chili Peppers are among my favorites. Their song "Midnight" is a hymn for me and expresses my thoughts exactly in the lyrics "All along I said I know no enemies. Mix it up until there are no pedigrees". You can hear the song at:

http://apps.facebook.com/lyricsdomain/artist/red_hot_chili_peppers/song/midnight

Pedigrees imply past successes and, I believe, limit growth. For me, living in each moment implies a newness, a reliance only on what is in the here and now. No enemies. No pedigrees. No purebreds.

Things dappled.