Morning Has Broken

 

"Morning Has Broken"

Watercolor

12"x17.75"

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This first stanza of the hymn, "Morning Has Broken" was the inspiration for this watercolor painting.   One of my favorites sung at morning Mass, the words and melody fill my heart and mind with the joy of witnessing a sunrise at the beach.:

Morning Has Broken Like the first morning,
Blackbird has spoken
Like the first bird.
Praise for the singing!
Praise for the morning!
Praise for them, springing
Fresh from the Word!
Text: Eleanor Farjeon, 1881-1965

As often happens, once I complete a piece of art and try to write something that viewers might find of interest, I start writing and find myself writing a poem. This piece was no different. In response to this watercolor and the hymn mentioned above, this is a poem that emerged that best describes my impressions and joy of witnessing a sunrise as dawn breaks.  

 

MORNING HAS BROKEN 

Staring at the lingering last lights of night still present at the beach,
first crack of yolk emerges,
pouring out its golden center, spewing
across the dark canvas of horizon.

Quiet pounding of rhythmic waves, hypnotically
crashing onto sand amid the shrill cries
of gulls in search of perhaps a tiny crab
washed up onto glistening wet sand.

The silent flurry of desperate matchstick-legged sandpipers
racing down the shore line of feathered-traffic,
as if the alarm never went off-late, now frantic
in the hunt for tiny insects, crustaceans and worms.

In unison, countless banks of overlapping clouds
of all sizes and shapes, erupt cotton-candy pink
against an emerging blue backdrop, while
companies of preying flocks comb, survey,
and dive into the depths to an unaware
catch of the new day!

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For pricing, additional information, or to purchase this painting, please visit my Daily Paintworks gallery at Nancy Parsons Gallery 

The Beach Boy

The Beach Boy, 10x8" Oil on Gessobord

SOLD 

"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop." — Mother Teresa

Today's painting is a recently commissioned piece. The photo reference I worked from was 20+ years old and so faded there was very little color still visible in the well worn image. However I have found over time, that if I pay close attention and focus in on each and every individual value shift, adding color isn't really a problem as long as I apply the same values found in the reference. In this reference there were also sand dunes in the background, so using a little creative licensing, I decided to add the cooler blue-green ocean behind this little beach goer for added color and contrast to his sun kissed flesh tones, and to also mimic his luminous sky-blue orbs. 

When I paint a portrait, I really have to completely forget that I am working on a portrait and not even try to think about capturing an exact likeness, or I will freeze up faster than a drop of water landing on the apex of the North Pole. I try to work all over the panel focusing on and breaking it all down into shapes formed by shadows, mid-tones and highlights. Once I am able to isolate a specific shape and value, and recreate that same value, each spot becomes a piece of the jigsaw puzzle. Somehow when I adhere to this limited focus approach, magically a little boy begins to emerge out of the paint. I might not always get an exact likeness, but somehow the underlying spirit and energy seems to rise out of the chaos.

I am not a great painter, only a very insignificant artist struggling to survive in a world surrounded by so many other more talented and formally educated masters. My desire is to disappear into the ocean of my work and experience over and over the tides of joy creating at the foot of the Master. That is enough. 

Thanks for dropping in today!
nancy

To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  • Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America

SOLD -Sand Pipers

"Sand Pipers" 8x8" Oil on gessobord

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"Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies."

– Aristotle

After spending the past month caring for my best-friend husband from a total-knee replacement—which left me zero time to pick up a brush— I'm back in the saddle again! Whoo-hoo...now that's freedom!

Feeling like a fish out of water, thought I'd dive right in with a beach scene. Today's painting is of Marion and Allie, girlfriends sitting side by side on the cusp of ocean's edge. This scene was very late in the day as a drooping golden sun captured them exploring in silence the mystery of sand and hermit crabs in complete abandonment. 

Friends laugh with us, cry with us, accept us as we are, even when we make mistakes. Friends walk beside us through it all. Albert Camus had this to say about friends, "Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend."

Thanks to all for "walking beside me" and my paintings.

nancy
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To see more of my art or to contact me: 
Online Gallery  • E-mail  • Graphic Design Studio

SOLD -Feed the Birds Cheetos?

"Feed the Birds Cheetos?" 8x8" Oil on gessobord

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"But let there be spaces in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls." 

— Khalil Gibran

I snapped this amazing photo of my granddaughter last week while at the beach as she was enticing seagulls with her Cheetos Puffs. I hope she didn't turn them all into junk-food junkies. 

I wasn't sure I'd be able to capture—or, for that matter, even paint—all those birds in such a feathery-frenzy-of-flurry motion. But I am happy with the way it came out. Rather than trying to paint all the birds in full detail, I opted to paint only the largest bird with the most detail and then just loosely indicated the rest of the flock. This helped maintain the impressionist quality I love so much, allow the birds to recede in the composition and not compete too much with the foreground figure. 

* Sorry this painting sold to my daughter before I was able to post.

Thank you for dropping in to view my painting!  
nancy
 

To view all of my available paintings in my gallery click here http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/nancy-parsons-122  * Sold pieces are marked with a red dot.
My blog: www.headondownthehighway.blogspot.com

E-mail: njparsons@suddenlink.net

My book: Head on Down the Highway A Blog Book

My graphic design business: www.graphicdesigngroup.net