essence...

Virginia Foothills   oil/canvas   20 x 10 x 1.5

is a wonderful word.  To me, it implies the distilling of something into its most flavorful, fragrant or visual parts.  A boiling down.

The Place:  Carter Mountain in Virginia
The Time:  a muggy day in May

My husband and I accompanied our son Seth and his friend Louise on an upwards hike up the mountain.  I was promised a natural fruit slushy of my choice at the top.  Well.....both Seth and Louise are marathon runners.  They trudged upwards effortlessly.  I enjoyed the exercise but was happy to wearing my sweat band......I was sweating like a.....well.....perspiring to some degree.
The fruit slushy was fabulous.  We took many photos.  The trip down was easier.  The day was amazing.

The patchwork patterning of the orchards was intriguing.

Essence.

Trusting Intuition...

Dappled   oil/canvas   30 x 40 x 1.5

Trusting your own intuition is difficult to do. But the more it is trusted, the easier it is the next time around.....and the easier...and the easier. I have learned to trust mine, even if it means the demise of a painting. In other words, I would rather take the painting where my intuition leads me, spending more hours of problem-solving, than play it safe. Whoa......did I just say that? "Dappled" lead me on quite the supreme adventure! The color evolved from bright emerald green to blue-green to turquoise. The background started out as a barn, then suggestions of a barn to nothingness. The cropping of the horse kept returning, even though I thought I was changing it. The dappled horse went from solid to transparent to everything in-between. This painting holds the dubious distinction of being the longest-time-wise-painting-ever for me............over 4 months of facing the canvas with nothing more to guide me than my intuition. I checked and rechecked my original sketch. I made more sketches. Can you feel my desperation? This horse lives down the street from me. There were times that I couldn't even look at her as I passed by....too much frustration. I was ready to give up countless times. Lucky I was using oil paint. I knew then that I had arrived when my intuition told me I had. I felt that the painting said what I needed it to say. The essence of dappled. It works for me. Another notch scratched on my studio wall for the unknown.