Rock Pool 1Acrylic 90 x 60 cm
The sea and the coastline become deep-rooted in one's psyche when living on a peninsula at the tip of Africa. The Atlantic and Indian oceans merge along our southern coastline, when we look south, there is nothing but sea between here and Antarctica.
I love to spend time gazing into rock pools, there is a whole microcosm of life being played out before me. The sounds and smells of the sea, the brilliant colours and shapes of the stones, shells and shell-fish with tiny fish darting about appeals to all my senses. I was struck one day, looking down, directly into the pool, by the amazing abstract-like quality of the shapes and colours and I have tried to recreate this in my painting.
11 comments:
This is beautiful, I think you've captured the colours and shapes of the sea perfectly. I really love the variety of textures in this, something I'm trying add more of into my own works. I'm sure there's a lot your blog can teach me :)
Dianne, this is a stunner! You have so effectively reflected the essence of water over rock. I can almost smell the minerals as I take it all in. It is as though you have captured a puzzle nature created and has asked to be put back together again. The essence of the stones being fractured and released is compelling. This painting holds a lot of metaphors for life in general - animal, plant, earth, etc.
Here we have to go to the northern reaches of our shoreline to get rocky coasts, however I also find them so alive. When we lived in the UK, you can imagine I spent a lot of time among the stones of the sea - and loved it.
This is truly a beautiful painting. Thank you so much for sharing it.
Hi Caroline, thanks for visiting my blog and commenting on my paintings. I have just enjoyed browsing through your blog, you are a very talented artist!
Hi Kim, I am so keen to find metaphors in nature, experimenting with earth, water and light. Thank you for your very thoughtful comment. Are your coastlines mainly sandy? I know you enjoyed being on that tiny "island", the UK, looking out to sea. I love the paintings you did relating to the UK coast.
Hello Dianne, yes the coast line here is mainly sandy, however the Maine Coast can have some rocks, but still some sand, too. The coast of the Pacific Northwest can also be quite sandy. If you go south, on either coast or on the southern Gulf Coast the beaches are sand.
I think one of the greatest things about using nature as a metaphor is that most everyone can relate to it and the meanings are truly individual to the viewer as well as the artist.
I loved the paintings I did in the UK, too - thank you. I can't capture the same colors here and I know it is the light. I can't imagine any blues as beautiful as those. I know why some of the great artists of Europe chose the Channel Coast for the light qualities (on both side of the Channel).
You know I love all your work Di, but this is exceptional!
Dear Kim, I am enjoying using a nature link in my paintings, I do want there to be something that draws the viewer in to the painting so that they may be able to relate on a visceral level, rather than an intellectual level. I respond to paintings in that way.
So many artists in the UK complain about the light, it is good to hear that you enjoyed the soft illumination and were able to create paintings using that light.
Dear Liz, thanks for stopping by during this very busy time for you. I am glad you are still able to do a bit of painting!
Hello Dianne,
First I meant to say the beaches of the Pacific Northwest of the US tend to be rocky not sandy! I am assuming you gathered that!
I do think you absolutely touch the viewer's heart with your work...on a visceral level, as you say. When a viewer gives your paintings enough time, they tend to surround one and transport them. I would imagine the experience is different for each viewer depending on their life experiences. I think that is a wonderful thing about abstraction.
Interesting, too, the artist who uses a subject matter, as you do, has to do just that in order to get to the abstract, too. You have to see the very details of the object (view, etc.), go deep within it which really does mean going deep within yourself, doesn't it?
Oh, I also think that it was helpful to me, painting in the UK, because it was new and fresh to me. There are others, though, who love that part of the world for the light it lends to painting...of course, Claude Monet (just on the other side of the Channel) comes to mind, right away.
I love this conversation.
Hi Kim,
I love the way you stimulate discussion. I am going to answer you in my next posting.
Beautiful, hard to look away ... it drew me in
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