Silent Sentinel

"Silent Sentinel" 10x8" oil on gessobord

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"You study, you learn, but you guard the original naivete. It has to be within you, as desire for drink is within the drunkard or love is within the lover."  — Henri Matisse

What more can I say about the beauty of a cat, sitting idle, alongside an empty chair. The cat longing and waiting for just the right moment to jump into the empty lap. The chair sits longing for the cat to nestle in for a morning nap and the inevitable sharpening of claws sure to fray and tear. Two strangers yearning, yet afraid to leap, like two sentinels waiting for the dawn, or a nudge to awaken from the trance. 

To quote from a passage of The Goldfinch by Pulitzer Prize winning novelist, Donna Tartt, "And just as music is the space between notes, just as the stars are beautiful because of the space between them, just as the sun strikes raindrops at a certain angle and throws a prism of color across the sky--so the space where I exist, and want to keep existing, and to be quite frank I hope I die in, is exactly this middle distance: where despair struck pure otherness and created something sublime."
 

Thanks for watching.

nancy

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

Call of the Light

"Call of the Light", 20x16, oil on gessobord

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"All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone." —Blaise Pascal

This large painting is of the wing back chair that sits in the corner of my mom's living room where I snapped the photo reference. 

Caught in a yin-yang sea of cool and warm light, the chair sits vacant and still, like an empty canoe at dawn, docked against a back lit window that laps cool waves of early morning light against its sides. In a battle for dominance and balance, the table lamp to the right, casts its baited hooks of warm golden highlights designed to lure and reel you in for the catch.  

This seat beckons, kick off your shoes and sit right down. Simply be and listen for a quiet moment, not with the mind but with ears of the heart. 

This tiny minnow-of-a-habit built into each day reaps a bounty you'll never throw back. 

Thanks for bobbing by today!

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

Seeing Red

"Seeing Red", 14x11", oil on gessobord

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"You can get help from teachers, but you are going to have to learn a lot by yourself sitting alone in a room."

 — Dr. Seuss

Here's another rocker that gets a regular workout in our home. This one was a gift to my husband when he retired from teaching high school. I am sure it was intended for a front porch setting, but serves us well in our living room. 

There is something I find irresistible about a chair sitting idle, open and waiting for someone to fill its highest purpose. Even if I have trouble finding the time to actually stop and sit much, sometimes simply seeing an empty chair permits me to mentally rest for a second or maybe two. Our lives are so fast-paced, chairs are wonderful metaphor for stillness, quiet... a reminder to stop the world now, and again...to indulge in the gift of another moment. Franz Kafka said, "You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet." 

Thank you for pausing for a spell.

nancy

PS. This is a larger painting 14x11"

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To see more of my art or to contact me: Daily Paintworks Gallery  • E-mail  •  Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery 

Home Is Where Your Hat Lies

"Home is Where Your Hat Lies" 10x8" oil on gessobord

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"Where thou art, that is home." — Emily Dickinson

From where I art, my home looks almost magical early in the morning as the sun begins peeking into corners of cool-gray lifeless windows, and prying open heavy lids of sleepy wooden blinds. Quickly the soft luster begins bouncing and dripping down the walls of the room as if caught in the middle of a paintball game. I love gazing at the dazzling light show as free-form patterns twirl about the room illuminating golden splashes on furniture, floors and walls, here and then there; perhaps directed by an invisible wand spattering glorious razzmatazz into the quickly vanishing darkness. 

I picked up this unique little bargain chair years ago in an antique shop. I was sure it must have belonged to a count or duchess. It was love a first glance. From where he art, hubby Dave wasn't too impressed with my prize find. However since then he has made use of it, serving as his own personal hat rack... Now does that not seem a bit sacrilegious? 

Thanks for visiting with me in my home today.

- nancy

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

SOLD - Room Service

"Room Service" 8x8" oil on gessobord

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"All of life is an empty room. It is our task to fill it with something worth listening to." 

— Joan Chittister

As Shakesphere said, "All the world is a stage"... and this empty chair is merely a player. A stoic prop, positioned slightly off-center stage, sits transfixed in the warm flood of first light pouring in through glass and splashing across the floor. 

This painting is of another corner of the hotel room where I recently stayed in Fort Worth. This delightful room serviced me well, an unspoken invitation to pause in the solitude of the great abyss. Or at least, that's how I perceived it. 

I've mentioned in previous blogs about my need for silence, and how important it is to my soul. I suspect this might have something to do with the fact that the TV broadcasts day and night at my house, especially during football season. I rarely ever sit down to watch it myself cause nine times out of ten, I'll be asleep within a matter of minutes. My need for quietude really is very productive because it spurns me to retreat to another room of service—my studio—where I can listen and paint to my hearts content in the utter soundlessness of "Do Not Disturb."

Thanks for checking in today! You've earned a tip!!!  : ) 

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