I’ve been getting more time in the studio, but spending less on the computer. New work is piling up, unshared!
Summer very much felt worth celebrating, and there were some stunning moments that seemed to sparkle with joy.
“Summer View” 8″ x 10″ acrylic on canvas w/glow & glitter, 2021
The time slipped away so quickly… and just this past weekend, I found myself noticing hints of Autumn here and there, on my walks, and as I ran my errands. Time spent in the studio hints at those hints.
“Hints of Autumn” 10″ x 14″ acrylic on canvas w/glow, 2021
Happily, time in the studio is increasing as I become more settled in my work and home routines in this new place. More to come!
New work and work in progress. The new studio space suits me. As the holidays approached, I thought a lot about dreams, and memories. Two new pieces developed rather spontaneously from those thoughts, and the delightful new Rosemary & Co brushes, and new paints, that I got as a holiday gift this year.
I consider this first one to be the “proper” first piece to come out of the new studio. “Nalla Was Here” was painted from a perspective of thinking over long-remembered places I haven’t seen or visited in many years, and the way time sort of “smooths over” some of the details. A friend I shared it with exclaimed when she saw it, taken by a similar sense of familiarity and remembrance. (This piece is not for sale.)
“Nalla Was Here”, 8″ x 10″, acrylic on canvas (photographed using flash).
A modest shift in lighting begets a very difference experience of color. (Gotta say, I’m enjoying these paints quite a lot.)
“Nalla Was Here” photographed in indirect natural light, no flash.
I started two other canvases that day, but finished neither of those. I’m okay with it. The luxury of having dedicated space for creative work allows me to slow things down and really take some time. So much so that I’ve been re-exploring watercolor recently (the miniatures I did in September were in watercolor), and this next piece, which I painted this week (Monday?), was an opportunity to give new gouache paints a try. “Ship of Dreams” is another 8″ x 10″ piece, and is inspired by contemplation of dreams and dreaming.
“Ship of Dreams” 8″ x 10″, gouache on canvas (photographed with flash)
This is another piece that changes quite a lot depending on the light source. In indirect natural light, it has a dreamy dawn-scape look.
“Ship of Dreams” in natural light (no flash)
I’ve been fairly dreadful about keeping up with this blog – missed all of 2019, I think, (which was a relatively creative year) and most 2020. I’ll make a point to reflect on work created in that time frame sometime… soon…ish? 😉
“Potentially Anything” 11″ x 14″ acrylic on canvas w/pen&ink and glow 2015
Painted on a rainy late summer morning, feeling inspired by love, and life; I started this piece thinking about lush green forests, and new life, and finished it thinking about space travel, and contemplating the future of humankind, and how vast our potential is, viewed from the perspective of how much we do not yet know. It is a piece I find myself hoping communicates some sense of how each moment is potentially the seed of some future greatness, and how precious our uncertainty is on our path of discovery. The basic image is of a gravid woman surrounded by whirling motes of dust, imagination, atomic particles, or… really…anything.
“Sunset Meadow” 11″ x 14″ acrylic on canvas w/pen&ink, gold, and glow 2015
This smallish piece, at just 11″ x 14″, is the first painting on canvas created in my new studio space. Painting from the perspective of feeling inspired and in love, it is a recollection of those sun-infused summer evenings when the orange glow of sunset seems to fill all the space between things. This painting is in a style I have recently favored, with an acrylic background on which a more delicate image in pen & ink is drawn. I used a gold leaf pen to add warmth to the details, and a bit of glow to give the impression of fireflies and hints of natural phosphorescence that I remember from childhood.
“Anxiety” 10″ x 14″ acrylic on canvas w/ceramic 2011
“Anxiety” was painted in 2011, and speaks to a common experience for many of us. There’s not much more to say about this piece; personifying Anxiety, deifying it, colors so many of our lives. We live in its embrace, or in its shadow. I painted her, myself, hoping that her visage looking back would make her easier to conquer. I don’t think that it did, but here she is. This piece is for sale for $250.
“Emotion and Reason” 24″ x 36″ acrylic on canvas w/ceramic details and glow 2012
“Emotion and Reason” is a piece of work that straddles changes in style, palette, materials, and inspiration. It was painted at a point in my life when the chaos of getting through menopause was wreaking havoc in my relationships, personally and professionally, and much of my experience of attempting to create order and make sense of it was complicated by the emotional side of my experience. Through it all, I had the support of my partner, who exists more on the rational side of life than the overtly emotional, contrasting my own experience at that time which listed far toward the emotional side. This painting is inspired by our shared experience of life and love – and of emotion and reason. (It’s also not for sale, being in the private collection of my partner.)
Detail of “Emotion and Reason”
This piece is also lovely when charged, and shot in dim light (or darkness).
“Summer Lamb’s Ear” 8″ x 10″ acrylic on canvas with glow 2014
This light fun floral impression was inspired by a bed of Lamb’s Ear in summer, blasted by the brilliant midday sun, and having caught my eye and distracted me from conversation I attempted to capture the moment, and the quality of light. A small 8″ x 10″ piece on canvas, it is also dramatic when charged and viewed in the dark.
Charged, and glowing.
This one is a favorite piece of glow work; I love the perspective shift, and the appearance of a moonlit garden.
“Communion” 24″ x 36″ acrylic on canvas w/ceramic details 2011
“Communion” is a piece inspired by love and loving, and by both the effort and rewards in building lasting love between partners over time. Inspired specifically by my relationship with my partner Michael, it also speaks of a profound change in my own understanding of love and loving, intimacy, and what love demands of us as beings seeking fulfillment, value, and nurturing. A larger work at 24″ x 36″, it represents the way love looms large in the human experience, the emotion – as with the footprint of the canvas – being far more vast and encompassing that the enveloped figures seem to require to be visible. This piece is in my personal collection, and is not for sale.
The Art of M. Elisabeth Howell 