Healing Art

 

 I was contacted by a company, Healthcare Art Consulting, asking if I was interested in submitting artwork for a new Cancer Treatment Center, being built by Charleston Area Medical Center in West Virginia...   Well, I almost didn't do it, because just applying would be a lot of work, and I had no way of knowing if my application would be accepted. At the last minute, I decided to apply, and I really had to hustle to get everything turned in on time. As part of the application, they asked for samples, so I painted the 12 x 12" painting above. This is a WV landscape that I had been wanting to paint for several years.

 

Well, I sent everything in, and waited, hoping for a commission...   When the news arrived, they had approved me for two commissions! Two oil paintings of West Virginia landscapes, each 40 x 40!"  I can't show you the other one, because it doesn't exist yet!

 

As you probably know, I live in California now, but I grew up in WV, and have lived there for most of my life. In fact, I used to kayak on the river in this painting. This is very exciting and challenging! And I feel honored to have this opportunity to offer some measure of beauty and hope to people undergoing treatment for cancer.

 

That kind of art is "healing?' I always thought my art was peaceful and harmonious... Is that healing? These scenes will be familiar to people in WV, and, I hope, arouse pleasant memories. What do you think?

 

 

3 Cows

...3 Cows...

oil on canvas panel - 6" x 6"

I had waited an hour and a half for these cows to come into the sunlight. They spent most of their time over in the shade under the background trees. The farmer saw me waiting, camera in hand, and just grinned. But he didn't approach me or ask anything. The cows looked very happy.

This is one of the layered paintings from the shelf in the earlier blog. Most of the paint here is opaque, but the transparent is in the dark of the background and the orangy ground under the grass.

It feels good to have this finished. I actually finished it and some others several days ago, but didn't photograph it till today.

Thanks for reading my blog! Have a good weekend.

After the Thunder

...After the Thunder... 

oil on linen - 12" x 16"

I was just amazed by this sunset! The rain was ending, but still sprinkling. As the light of the sunset became red, it illuminated even the fog on the ground. I was sitting on a deck, attempting to do a plein air watercolor. (In the rain, ha!) Anyway, the photos survived, so this painting is from them. I started this painting in Deborah Paris's Painting Skies class, but added about 6 layers of glazes and scumbles after the class was over!

Trout Pond

...Trout Pond...

watercolor on 140# paper - 10" x 7"

This is a plein air watercolor of our beautiful WV autumn. Well, at least I tried. I have not done any watercolor painting for a long, long time, and boy, am I rusty! But there is something about the feeling of it, the downright joy of the colors, that caused me to go ahead and show it online.

Watercolors force me think in reverse from the way I have to think when painting in oils. I have to paint negative space and work light to dark, which is really an incredibly good exercise in visual thinking.