Trying to identify the why

Over the years, I've been known to paint a wide range of subjects. I've learned much from each, but recently I've had an inner nudge to really get down and dirty into painting landscapes.

I've tried to understand the why of this decision. With unlimited subject matter at hand, why focus my efforts on the land?

I've driven across the continental United States and repeatedly have been awed by the flow of one land formation into another from state to state, even from one area of the same state to another. There's a compelling movement of land mass, water, foliage, forest, desert, plains, mountain peak.

If one lives in one area for all of their life, I think they might not experience the extent of that incredible motion, the flow and change of the land.

A new friend asked me to articulate what I hoped to "say" with my landscapes, and I was stumped for an answer. I glibly responded with, "I'm an earth sign Virgo."  Perhaps my resolve to try this is too fresh and unformed. I thought of the geometric shapes to be explored, playing with a different palette of colors, but such technical considerations fell short. The heart of the matter wasn't yet identified.

Then yesterday I came across a quote by photographer Annie Leibovitz:

"I wish that all of nature's magnificence, the emotion of the land, the living energy of place could be photographed."

Bingo! I realized that, with the medium of acrylic paint on canvas, I hope to convey my interpretation of the living energy of the land.

Here I go!

Day 321 of Project 365

Snow is forecast again for tomorrow, there's already a dusting of snow on the back deck. All but the very last of the leaves have fallen from branches. I have a potted Japanese Maple that we've brought into the foyer, and it still has one or two green leaves, but the rest have turned amber and red, and fallen. The colors were splendid, but now the landscape is turning dull, monochromatic. Even the people out and about for the most part are cloaked in darker hues. But there IS color out there, one just has to be open to it.

I was wandering around a farm a couple of weeks ago and stumbled on the scene of a pair of green metal lawnchairs just outside of a red barn. It was shot with my iPhone, and I did add a film grain effect. Me, like! Just beyond the barn was some sort of mechanical device, and the distressed metal shute called out to me, "Kay! Here I am ready for you to chronicle!" So, I did!

I suspect more of my photographing will take place indoors. Hmmm, there's always something to pique the imagination!

Celebrity portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz was interviewed the other night on television regarding her new book, Pilgrimage, and when asked about what kind of camera to buy replied that the iPhone is "the snapshot camera of today." She went on to comment that it has revolutionalized our lives in that we can carry about our photo albums with us, and can still avail ourselves of the other functions and apps. Where's the need to carry a separate point and shoot camera? Yea verily!


Love how the setting sun plays with the shadows
iPhoto no filter




Green Chairs, Red Barn
iPhoto w/film grain effect




Metal Shute
iPhoto no filter