Winter is cold but its embrace is one of warmth. In its grip, the world is still and quiet. It is a time of rest and reflection. It is a time of renwal.
The world around me has been chaotic since the move. There are still boxes we have not unpacked and probably won't, so away in storage they went. We gutted the walls of this house over the holidays to run duct work for the air conditioning and heat pump we had installed. My husband is one step closer to his dream of making this house energy efficient. My studio is now equipped with a split unit able to provide both air condition and heat. The gas fireplace will now only by supplemental to my creative space.
Slowing Down
“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” _-Lao Tzu
Winter always used to be a time of slowing down for me and I'd like to get back to that tranquility. To rest my mind, my heart and my soul. I want to feel at ease again. When I am in a state of calmness, I am better able to create. I found living in the DC Metro area of Northern Virginia to be extremely hectic. Most of the time I felt crippled by anxiety. There were too many people, too much traffic, tons of cookie-cutter HOA neighborhoods where all the houses looked the same, and too little nature. Even where my family lived, out in the countryside of Western Loudoun Country, I could not find the respite I craved. I know I was missing the deep woods of New England. The rest of this winter will be all about slowing down and letting my creative instincts take me where they want to go.
Winter Births Renewal
I have found myself experimenting with watercolor, gouache, and inks a lot this winter. I am still creating digitally with Procreate and Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. I have even cycled back to explorations of mixing traditional mediums with digital. Oftentimes I find that a watercolor I painted isn't to my liking, but I have spent too much time on it to simply discard. Once scanned in, I rework it using Procreate and Photoshop methods. I'm very happy with the outcomes and will be sharing those works as well. I have also been using the human form within some of my works. Something I have not done in a good long while. I can't wait to share these soon.
Speaking With Imagery
“The object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity.”-Alberto Giacometti
The works I have been creating recently are not heavily based in realism. I have grown tired of capturing what stands already real before us. I want to take the things that inspire me from the real world- the natural world, the wildlife, insects, and plant life that I am drawn to, and explore them with a touch of fantasy and whim. I want to explore with an almost surreal fantastical approach. I want the enchantment and wonder to be a magical experience for the view of my work. I hope that my art can generate a wonder about the natural world and with its unique approach and bridge the gap between conservational awareness and art.
The Horizon
I have lots of fun little watercolor illustrations for downloadable card designs that are centered around pollinators. I also have a few bodies of work that I will be unveiling in the coming weeks and months that I can't wait to share. I hope you will love them as much as I do. I plan on making my artwork available to a wider audience on a more affordable scale. I will be utilizing digital download prints and templates. Of course, I will still offer originals, giclee prints and "real" greeting cards as well.
