Bathing Beauties

"Bathing Beauties", 8x8", Oil on Gessobord

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"To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it." —Kurt Vonnegut

Because inquiring minds want to know...I recently caught these blatant sun lovers basking alongside the busy counter top in my local coffee haunt, Panera Bread Company. These kept-women flashing highly pedicured extremities and golden tans, shamelessly lollygaged the day away gossiping from an above-ground spa. They were so transparent! For hours on end they did nothing but sit by idly making snide remarks about patrons heavy laden with assorted bagels and hot frothy lattes. 

A self-admitted paparazzi, I couldn't resist exploiting their follies on the front page of my weekly tabloid. Thank you for reading this shocking true confession.  ;  )

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

Heads Up

"Heads Up", 8x10" Oil on Gessobord

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"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." — Oscar Wilde

The sleepy head models who posed for this painting were a mom's day gift. I love sunflowers and took a ton of photos of the quintuplets sitting near my kitchen window, while sunbathing in the morning light. These little ladies are definitely not morning people, for the life of me, I couldn't get them to lift their golden heads wreathed in Rapunzel tresses, and open their big brown eyes to face the camera. Finally the one in the back popped her head up and said good morning.


I really enjoyed painting this piece which is looser and more abstract than some of my most recent work. Stretching and reaching for light myself, I tried to stay focused on my goal of not reproducing each and ever petal, but rather to capture all the spots and shapes of colors I was seeing. It was fun giving my inner child permission to come out and color outside the lines. Jim Carey had it right when he said, "If you aren't in the moment, you are either looking forward to uncertainty, or back to pain and regret." 

Thank you for dropping by to play.
nancy 

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

Shuttered Repose

"Shuttered Repose", 14x11", oil on gessobord, (framed)

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“There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.”

                                    — Aldous Huxley

Do you think the subject of this painting is the action of transforming early morning light, or the opposing destruction of late afternoon darkness setting up camp in the final winks of a retiring sun at the end of a long hot 12-hour shift? We find ourselves surrounded in a world of camouflaged reality. Is the light pouring in between slats lighting up this room, or is darkness aggressively painting its seizing stripes of devoured territory like an insatiable, half-starved Pac-Man caught in hand-to-hand battle defending hard won borders of line, form and shape like an ebony eraser? 

It's your call. Although the photo reference for this painting was snapped in the morning, there really is no right or wrong. We all see and believe what our senses perceive. We are just blank walls waiting to choose seats.

"Shuttered Repose", along with other pieces of my work, will be for show and sale next Saturday, June 21, from 2-6 p.m. as a part of the JoMar Visions', "Show it, Don't Say It!" exhibition. The studios are located at 902 Hardy St., Houston, TX 77020. See attached flyer. If you are in the area, please stop by and say hi.

Thanks for weighing in today. This painting is available for sale, however it will not ship until June 23. 

nancy


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

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

Seat of Knowledge

"Seat of Knowledge" 20x16" Oil on Canvas

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 "Knowledge is knowing we cannot know." 

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

This wing back chair sits vacant in the north facing window of my studio. It was a rescue from a friend of my daughter's whose cat had taken a liking to it. 

To me, this chair is the semblance of the Tree of Knowledge growing smack dab in the middle of the Garden of Eden, tempting all who come upon it to eat of its forbidden fruit. The shiny, sweet-talking tangerine, balancing precariously on a limb is the brightest allure in this lush garden.

Can you imagine sitting shamelessly idle, sipping on a cup of jasmine tea, and delving into the hidden secrets of a half finished book in the middle of a quiet afternoon? Seeing this chair empty, makes me wonder if its latest occupant was cast out of paradise mid bite after partaking of...heaven forbid...leisure time?!? Wonder what that feels like? Guess I'll never know. It all comes down to living your passion. Are you living yours?
 

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

Window Seat

"Window Seat", 10x8", oil on gessobord

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"What you really want for yourself is always trying to break through just as a cooling breeze flows through an open window on a hot day. Your part is to open the windows of your mind."

—Vernon Howard

The other day a friend asked what was up with all the chairs I've been painting recently? To be honest I am not sure what motivates my fascination? However as I reflect on the question, I have to admit I've been as moved by the illuminated windows serving as backdrops in my paintings, as I have been by the silhouetted chairs themselves. 

The yin-yang of light and dark enchants me with the omnipresence of shadowy darkness stalking ever so close, lurking on the prowl; while parallel worlds of redeeming windows stream with the brilliance of life-saving portals, open invitations for light and color to enter pregnant with the hope of possibility.

I don't know why I feel compelled to paint chairs, but those flanked with wide outstretched stuffed arms, sure seem to long to surround with the warmth of a soft embrace, offering safety and protection. To coin a phrase from Goldilock, "Ahhh, this chair is just right."

Thanks for flowing in through my window. 

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

Darkness or Light?

"Darkness or Light?", 10x8" oil on gessobord

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"A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy?"—Albert Einstein

Taking the positive view, today the quiet morning light reflected onto my wooden living room floors creating shadowy markings as precise as the painted lane markers on the freeway. I will even go so far as to say, one of my ladder back chairs has jumped in to play a round of hopscotch? 

However from the opposing viewpoint, it could also seem that this unoccupied, desolate straight back was trapped, worthless, isolated, even trapped in the darkness behind bars. 

Which is it? The same scene with two opposing perspectives. Which slant resonates with you? Is the light overcoming darkness here, or do you see darkness overcoming the light? While I see stillness, quiet, and inner solitude; another might see emptiness, abandonment or even purposelessness. Life is what we bring to it...what we are looking for always finds us.

Thanks for playing along on this beautiful morning.
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To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  •  Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery

 

Hanging Out

"Hanging Out" 6x6" oil on gessobord 

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"Rest until you feel like playing, then play until you like resting, period. Never do anything else." — Martha Beck

Easier said than done. How about changing that quote to, work until you feel like resting, then rest until you feel like working? Sometimes we have to admit defeat and give into what our bodies are telling us.

I felt compelled to paint these blue jeans hanging in quiet repose "with nobody inside 'em." They're doing a terrific job of relaxing on a hanger until someone to comes along and pours life back into them. 

I don't know why sitting still and resting is so impossible for me? My mom swears she never could get me to take a nap when I was little. To this day, every time I tell myself I'm going to sit down and escape into some mindless TV show, all I can think about is what I should be doing and what all I'm not accomplishing. Now I have no trouble sleeping, so if I sit there more than 15 minutes, I'll doze off. I admire people who can simply sit and rest, it makes me fidgety and restless. Gosh, I really need to work on that!!!  : )

Thanks for hang'n around with me today. 
 nancy 

© 2013 nancy parsons

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

Kitty, Kitty, Kitty

"Kitty, Kitty, Kitty 6x6" oil on canvas panel

 

I've been a bit under the weather this week and tied down with wedding preparations, showers, and graphic design work, so I haven't been able to paint much. However, here is a commissioned piece that I have been working on for a friend.  I do love those sweet, sensitive eyes of contentment as this kitty sat before a window. Sorry but it's not for sale at this time.

 

Thanks for viewing my painting!

nancy

 FREE SHIPPING

I am offering FREE shipping this summer within the U.S. on all paintings in my Daily Paint Works,  ebay and  Etsy stores. These small paintings look great in groups of two or more, and add interest and charm to an entry, kitchen, bath, sitting on a bookshelf, or other small areas. 

                                                                                             FRAMES

To purchase online frames, check out the "floater" frames like those shown below. The paintings just gets glued onto it...super easy. http://www.kingofframe.com/6x6-Frames_c_22.html
 

   

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