Nw Painting, " Would You Even Know Me if Your Eyes Were Closed?"

36" x 48"

Oil and Mixed Media on Canvas

Available

Peace comes from within. 

Do not seek it without. 

~ Buddha

Was playing around with some new colors and working slightly larger than normal...a little out of my comfort zone, but that's when growth happens. 


I worked on this piece at the same time I was working on a commission in the same color scheme. The commission is totally abstract, but I felt like this one needed something more subjective, more tangible.  The idea of a branch came to mind and then the painting took on a life of its own.


I am often asked how long it takes me to complete a painting. it's so hard to quantify, as I work in so many stolen moments out in the studio of 10-30 minutes while the kids are occupied/napping/playing outside with me...but that works and has actually enmeshed with my process because the pieces contain many layers, many intricate applications of colors and drips and carvings and geometric shapes and lines one on top of the other, and in the end I feel like they are done when I have found a way to calm my monkey mind and resolve the busyness and find peace in my composition and in my heart. 


That's when I know they are done...when I look at a painting and feel peace. A peace I continue to feel when I close my eyes, which is sort of where the title came from.


It's crazy how the seasons influence my painting on a subconscious level: think about the tree from "Our True Nature" done in the Spring, 

and this new one, with its spicy , earthy, warm colors is so completely Fall...here's a detail pic:

Colors of Fall - in progress

Today, in my mind at least, was the first real day of Fall in Dallas--at least, the first day that it felt like Fall. I sent the kids to preschool in their jackets, their chubby cheeks rosy from playing outside in the backyard.


The leaves swirled around in the wind outside the studio as I worked and sipped on my green tea.  It is always amazing to me to feel things outside, inside and then through my brushes.  The invigorating weather today was no exception as it manifested itself in a brand new color palette of spick pumpkins, cranberry, burnt umbers and deep charcoals.


I am stepping outside of the comfort zone and working bigger.  That square painting is 62" x 62".  It and the tree painting are commissions, the one on the right is just for fun. We'll see where they end up.