Monday, June 11, 2012

Rock, Paper, Paint

Oil stained canvas - 25cm X 25cm
(Inspiration rock wrapped with wire hangs in upper section.)
From hundreds of rocks just a few will inspire. The search for that perfect inspiration, that scenery, that image in the surface of a small stone, that search has no end and no boundaries. I find myself acutely studying rocks wherever I come upon them. The most embarrasing place in in stores where bags of tumbled rocks can be bought for 1$. I will look at every rock before I buy the bag because there must be at least one that I visualize as a painting.
Oil on stretched canvas - 30cm x 30cm
(Stone inspiration attached -lower lefthand corner)
It's not a monetary issue. It's an accumulation issue.

I have rocks by the buckets; my studio is peppered with them. There are the tumbled ones, those found by the river bed where I picked fiddlehead ferns, those spotted on the road as I walked along, those found in a shovel full of dirt as I did some landscaping...There truly is an endless supply.

And I am developing such a connection to each one, even those which have no artistic potential. I feel that ultimately they all have the greatest of roles for they are of the earth, without which we would not be standing on firm ground. Perhaps that explains why when I hold a rock in my hands and I feel the ridges, the protrusions and the uniqueness of each one I feel so grounded.
Oil and modeling paste on stretched canvas - 10cm x 13cm
(Stone embebbed - midway left. Supported on small brass easel.)

I hope my most recent paintings are testament to the beauty within each stone that I choose to incorporate in my work.
Oil and oil stick on stretched canvas - 28cm x 70cm
(The art for the stone face you see is below. The actual inspiration for this painting is on the back of the stone. I wanted to tie these two together because both sides of the stone had so much to offer.)
Not quite finished with this one-Oil and oil stick on stretched canvas
60cm x 90cm
 There is a Japanese saying that states: "The pebble in the brook secretly believes itself to be a precious stone." ...I believe that as well!
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