Just a Chair on a Porch

"Just a Chair on a Porch"
14x11" Oil on 1.5" gallery wrap canvas

Click Now to Buy this painting

"The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity." —Walt Whitman

Stripped down to the barest necessities for guaranteed joy and contentment, give me a front porch with a chair to sit in silence and greet a neighborly morning knocking at my door. 

Coffee cupped in hand...sliver of melting moon fading...first chirps of the winged, chanting praise...cool stir of wind caressing cheeks...last stand of shrinking shadow...sunburst on the horizon, duck the first warm hurls of orange and gold rays. Morning has broken!

Photographers: Moira Fitzgerald & Yann Meersseman

The reference shown for my painting was another amazing image found on Vintage Colors blog. I was totally swept into the quiet stillness captured by the simplicity of the morning scene. However, as you can see, I went to town taking huge liberties with pumped up colors and values pulled from my imagination to match the intensity of the light and serenity that infused me. 

In this latest piece, I decided to challenge myself by taking a different approach. I usually try to match the same colors and values to what I see, but this time my goal was to try punching up the warmth and coolness of the light and hues for added mood and mystery. I have been working on this one for some time and hit many dead ends along the way. I had to wipe my canvas off many times and start over until I began seeing on my canvas what I was feeling about the image, rather than what I was simply seeing. 

For me painting is a war, a battle of push and pull, trial and error to the very end. I now stand with white flag in hand...a truce declared. I am at peace...and just wish I could plop into that inviting chair. 

Thanks for the visit,
—nancy

To see more of my art click here, or one one of these additional links: Online Gallery • Email  • Website  •  Graphic Design Studio • Saatchi Gallery • Fine Art America

SOLD - Room Service

"Room Service" 8x8" oil on gessobord

CLICK TO BUY

"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!!!  : ) 

*****FREE SHIPPING***** For the month of October treat yourself to FREE shipping on all domestic shipments, and 1/2 off all international shipping charges. Offer applies to any paintings purchased from my Online Gallery. 
_______________________________________________________
To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  •  Website  • Graphic Design Studio 

SOLD -Birch Grove

"Birch Grove" 6x6" oil on canvas board

Click to Bid

         "Landscape is not all external, some has crept       inside the soul." — John O'Donohue

You might say I am a kicked in the head fan of John O'Donohue's writings. Every other word he writes hits me like a jab in the heart. Perhaps it's my own part Irish ancestry, but I have been devouring every morsel of his book, Anam Cara-A Book of Celtic Wisdom, stretching it out and savoring each word like a deluxe box of fine Belgium chocolates, never wanting to reach the bottom.

I have been fascinated and mystified by trees since I was eight years old. I would regularly climb to the top of the 100-year-old tree in our yard and sit on wide outstretched arms of the highest branches, swaying in the wind for hours on end. Trees seemed so wise, safe and secure to me.

I didn't have the words to understand what I was experiencing back then, but I have come to realize, those were my first contemplative experiences into solitude and silence. It was in solitude where I have found my deepest sense of belonging, and the distinct sense of oneness and peace with all that surrounds. Somehow those early feelings have stayed with me through out my life. Trees were my teachers and I am ever so grateful for their mentoring.

Thanks for wandering in and for viewing my painting.  

nancy
_____________________________________________________
To see more of my art or to contact me:  

Gallery  •  Blog  • NEW Website • E-mail  • Graphic Design Studio