Monday, February 25, 2013

From Darkness

"Creativity - like human life itself - begins in darkness." -Julia Cameron


From Darkness
From Darkness
encaustic mixed media
20x16 inches

I paint with a lot of black. It's not a morbid fascination. In fact, it's the opposite. Black is so rich to me. So much nuance and mystery. You need to look deep into it and see the richness. I think of black as comforting, warm, the beginning of life.

"There's something about black. You feel hidden away in it." -Georgia O'Keeffe


Last May I was able to attend a workshop with Shawna Moore here in Chicago. During that day I made several small panels. One of them was this one, which measured 8x8 inches:

moore-wkshop


And that panel became the start off for a small bowl painting titled "Just Enough".

I always knew that I was going to go back to the original and try it again, but on a larger scale. Finally was able to get to it this month. But this time I ended up turning it around, and tweaking things a bit.

"I will love the light because it shows me the way. Yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars." -Og Mandino
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4 comments:

  1. Angela Wales Rockett11:11 AM

    Love it! And the quotes, too. I've gotten requests for "lighter" work before from people who equate dark colors with depression and morbid thoughts, not realizing the depth of life and mystery to found in them. And without darkness to contrast it, we would never see light.

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  2. Bridgette Guerzon Mills2:34 PM

    Angela, we are so often on the same wavelength! I was actually thinking those thoughts when I was painting this. How people often like "lighter" work and I understand that, totally. But this is what I'm drawn to create. In my still life painting class that I've been taking, this phrase is often repeated: "It's the shadows that gives us form..." I like that.

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  3. tangled sky studio4:17 PM

    love the depth and richness in the new piece...really gorgeous

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