5.09.2012

Looking For Myself


Trees and flowers are blooming everywhere and while Taos can be magical, blooming trees, lilacs, and field poppies challenge my skills in the Spring.
Growing up in California, I associated Spring with the beach, and maybe a replacement pair of shorts for ones worn all winter. In CA where things bloom year around,  I took flowers very much for granted; not anymore, but I don't paint them if a broader view is available. This year, instead of avoiding what was everywhere I chose to paint a few blossoms.
At the top is a piece done here in Alamosa about a week before heading to Taos. The scene was a complex mix of 2 blooming trees, shadows and directional lighting. Obviously, I don't really strive for a realistic take on things but am looking for my own stylization of the subject matter.  The lower painting is my version of a side lit lilac bush in Taos - with a more of a realistic spin.
In general, I am looking, striving, trying to find an abstraction that will communicate the essence of the view- but in my "voice".  Every painter paints with a certain voice - some without even knowing, some intentional, some naive or untrained-  and others actively trying to "sound" just like someone else. Pleasing and personal abstractions of landscape elements can be very elusive- like notes of music traveling on a breeze.
I am always looking for a way to communicate that looks like "me" or "sounds" like me;
the "voice" I want to put out there.
These pieces will never see the light of day, but serve as exercises for that purpose; and I only see myself in one of them.
It may not be my final answer, but it's a few more notes in a tune I am always wanting to catch.

2 comments:

Patrick Myers said...

Love the first, more abstract one. It's wonderfully painted and unexpected in its presence and presentation.

Pleinview said...

Thanks Patrick.
That one also appeals to me the most. Ironically,
I dismissed it in the field and conversely,
really liked the other one while I was doing it.
A good reason to never judge in the field.