WHITE IS THE SUM OF ALL COLORS (no first of April joke!)

 Since in 2006 I was on a stint on painting flowers which  started a few weeks before Easter, it occurred to me that I had never painted flowers for Easter, while I often did buy them for that holiday. That year a lot of them were blooming by the back entrance of our office, and was very taken by their beauty.
Of all the flowers that I painted, the white ones seem to be the 

 NOTES

-most challenging, because the heart of the flower is darker, 

not lighter than the petals

- another challenge is the background

- since white is the sum of all colors,  reflections of colors 

of surroundings are seen in the white

- careful that  flower does not look like a "cut-out"

- white is a symbol of resurrection 

- a hope so pure, nothing can surpass it

© Calle Lillies, 24 x 30 Oil, St Germain

If you click on "Mysteries" in the right side bar, it takes you to my main blog, where you read the poem for these flowers and see a few other white flowers. 

Am away for Easter weekend, so I scheduled this post, and am looking forward to your comments when I get back. Have a great Easter all of you, my friends!

FIRE CHASERS

This watercolor is still in process. If you enlarge the image you may see that I'm contemplating to add a third figure, which would be the poet.

FIRE CHASINGS
seeking to revive
dying embers
dancing ferociously
sparking flames
blow by blow
on melodies of flute and narration
Prophetic voices
explosion of colors and paint
soaring to eagles heights
travel of ebb and flow
like ocean waves
with lightning speed 
of handmade
footprints of percussion

NOTES

Began to paint this at the Art Event on the first Thursday 
in March 2010 (see main blog).

Technically it should be called  a Mixed Media painting, 
since pastel was used for the patches of the blanket 
and then painted over with a wet brush

We'll see what happens...

YOU AND I -A WINK TO DIEGO RIVERA

 © 16 x 20 Oil, St. Germain
Sold, but available in Print (see sidebar)

You and I is a painting from my early period. For details why I came to to paint this, please read the post on the main blog. For easier reading, I repeat the poem

You and I

Your colors are my country

my home is wherever you will be

you are always around me

your voice and touch

as far as the horizon

I see.

© St.Germain

NOTES

The unspoken bond between parent and child is so strong that it goes beyond countries, it is a global phenomena, symbolized in the rounded horizon.

The house, a symbol of a  place where families live,  also goes beyond borders. In my own family, we have spread out into Indonesia, China, Netherlands, and USA.

For me personally red signifies redemption. It is often the child that brings a redeeming quality n our life. When the child is there, we (the parent) are forced to grow up!

The tree speaks of nurturance and provision to live (fruit).

The simplicity of the minimum style of painting speaks for the child's view. In his or her world, only the parent exists.

PORTNER'S SHED -First watercolor 20 YEARS AGO

my bare beginnings of the small oil...

of a fun-filled weekend in Big Bear Lake at 9000 feet: 
a girl from a flat land in the mountains.

Get the whole story and pics of the painting on my main blog on Wednesday

NOTES

A comeback to art after 20 years.

First time in water color

A new rendition in oil (because I could not find my original after our move)

Decision which kind of  background to focus on:

bare or more natural

©  11 x 14 Oil, Portner's Shed, St. Germain

-the shed is on a slight incline
-what was so effortless in watercolor (the snow covered branches)

was the most challenging for me in oil!
See the double doors are slightly opened?
- had to tweak the sun rays on the doors several times:)

-Almost finished
sorry for the color distortion!
In reality the white is more white
and the yellow in the tree 
on the left is a brighter yellow

MY INFATUATION WITH POST IMPRESSIONISM

© Bend in the Road, oil, St Germain

NOTES

One of those experiments of every artist

- to copy one's favorite artists
- my own signature style is still in there:
ultramarine blue!
-prefer the wildness in van Gogh's sense of form
over the ultra-precison of Seurat, 
which result in a somewhat 
stifled impression.
-the dots are addicting, but I have 
to find my own way of expression!

TRAIN RIDE

 © Train Ride, watercolor, St.Germain


NOTES
- taped off for painting the window
- staring out of an opened window
- mood: waiting
curious
contemplative
- in background:  the window of the other side
- display with blue matte, so it becomes
- a window  of a window in a window

BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER

Some design problems need to be worked out. 

So I made some sketches.

- direction of the light coming from the eye:

influences the direction of the bridge

- bridge: straight, or going in a bend?
- with both sketches, the viewer's eye goes 
away from the focus  (not good!)

- with this direction of light,
the pillar on the bridge pulls the eye, 
the bridge and the water together

© Bridge over Troubled Water, 24 x 30, Oil, St.Germain

- choppy water, something new to paint !

-a fiery, yet stormy sky

-still to do: painting the supports of the pillar 
to the bridge

- will do when I get the painting back home!