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!

Egads! December!

And the second day of December, no less! It has been a busy, productive morning. A lot of time has been spent on my poor, limping along computer, catching up on my jewelry blog, adding new items to inventory. I noticed that my photographs have been featured in three different Etsy Treasuries in the last couple of weeks. Hooray!

I meet next week with Emily Long, owner of The Loft in Colville, to address our mutual expectations for an upcoming exhibit of my photographs at her shop. That will be exciting, no? Yes!

Last Christmas I used one of my photographs as the image on my holiday greeting cards. I would like to do so again this year, so am going through images to find one that speaks Christmas. I've been toying with a couple of ideas, but I MUST make a decision NOW! Time's a-wastin'!

But here is today's image:



A rather subdued Cheney, WA landscape.
Loved the motion and color of the sign and the road stripe.
The vertical trees and the receding white road markers
seem to mitigate the sign being dead center.
Attracted to the undulating landforms and stubble,
and the curve of the arrow and the road.



Where was I?

Suki and I went for a drive-about this afternoon. It was just that sort of day when I absolutely had to get out of the house and fill my lungs with sun-warmed fresh air and see something other than four walls closing in on me.

I put some gas in the tank because I didn't know what to expect or what would be available where I ended up. I'm still learning my way around. It felt exhiliarating spinning along the highway out of town, away from the congested neighborhoods, traffic, old brick buildings, the shopping malls, the drive-thru eateries. I pointed the truck toward Deer Park today and had a jolly good time of it.

Just that sort of day.

I am uploading a photograph I took a week or so ago while driving up beyond Liberty Lake. I'm attracted to this photograph on a couple of different levels.

First, I like the movement in the composition, the curve in the road, the heading down and the landscape background continuing up and beyond.

Second, where I stood to take the photograph is in the state of Washington, and somewhere in the fields in the background is the state of Idaho. It's a distinction made by man, just like the measurement of time, or the asphalt roads, the utility poles. The trees don't give a diddly in which state they have their roots, nor do the pastures of golden hay, or the timid deer, the vigilant hawks overhead.

It was just Suki, the landscape, and me standing in the middle of a road taking a photograph.

Day 239 of Project 365

Two of my photographs at http://www.kweststudio8.etsy.com/ were included in Etsy Treasuries today:

"Waiting at the Curtain"

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTI3NDE2OTV8NjMxODg2Nzk1/here-waiting

Curated by http://www.shirleybemine.etsy.com/

"Flaming Floral" 

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/ODgwNjczNXw2MzYxMzkyODY/september-color

Curated by http://www.jollyjuli.etsy.com/

What's Spokane?

I've been here for almost a month and I have to admit that I haven't really gotten out and seen much of Spokane and environs; mostly routes to Rosauer grocery store, my post office, my storage unit, the bank, Manito Park.

We (Mel, Steve and moi) drove out to Medical Lake to another relative's home for a farewell BBQ for my niece, Becky and her family who were moving to Alaska for a year, maybe two. Since I wasn't driving, I whipped out my handy dandy iPhone and started clicking away at the landscape from the back seat. Medical Lake is about a 20 minute drive west from downtown Spokane.

Whatever else Spokane is I have yet to find out, but I do know it is agricultural. Here are some of the photographs to substantiate this observation. Suffice it to say these are my uploads for ...

August 2, 2011



(Film Grain Filter)





(Film Grain Filter)




(Dry Brush Filter)