This is my offering for Day 27. It is an abstract painting using acrylic paints on a piece of wood sized 8"x8". I had a lot of fun using a plastic painter's knife to add the various layers of acrylic paint. What made it fun was the rough texture of the wood grain that became more visible as I played with the layers of paint.
I then took a picture and added text to the image using Photoshop CS3.
You might be surprised that I choose a quote by John Ruskin because he is known to have argued that the principal role of the artist is "
truth to nature".
Yet, this particular quote is quite fitting
to me, a visionary artist, with this painting for it challenges the purest ideas of what is "
seeing clearly" in society and in art form. I "see" my art and the visions it conjures up within me as sharing some ties with that of Ruskin's belief of:
"Good art is done with
enjoyment. The artist must feel that, within certain reasonable limits, he is free, that he is wanted by society, and that the ideas he is asked to express are true and important."
Without overly analyzing the process and the materials I was using I became free to enjoy the creation of this painting and although it is not a "true" realistic painting of a forest it non the less is my vision of what an early morning walk in a forest would look like to me... call me unreasonable if you choose. LOL
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| 8"x8" abstract painting on wood with computerized text overlay. |
Blue skies and golden sun rays play hide and seek with each other within the mist of the thick, rough trunks of the trees shuffling by to reveal the next section of the path of my personal journey of a creative life. The purple shimmers extend them self deeper into the center of the painting holding perhaps the clarity that Ruskin speaks of - of poetry, of prophecy, and religion all in one.
Although Ruskin would argue with:
"Even the most superior mind and the most powerful
imagination must found itself on facts, which must be recognized for what they are. The imagination will often reshape them in a way which the prosaic mind cannot understand; but this recreation will be based on facts, not on formulas or illusions.
Although my views will never be mistaken for being pure Ruskin in nature (no pun intended) I admire the man - for Ruskin's ideas and views lead to the rise of the Arts and Crafts Movement and the importance of man made and craftsmanship over machine made to create beauty in society so powerful that it crossed over into our moral beliefs and values for living life as good Christians.
Yet I argue that God is so good to society that he provides us many opportunities to see spiritual peace "happiness" in unlimited forms and practices. Even (should I say it) by merging "fact" with "illusions" which I interpret as faith or belief. For it is the things we don't see and yet hold strong beliefs in that matter the most during our earthly time. Instead of arguing one extreme or the other I find enjoyment in interweaving abstract play representation of the unknown with that of personal storytelling conveyed by personal association to said abstract art based on the historical facts of a life lived.
How sweet it is to have freedom of personal vision and thoughts and to share them in purpose to experience peace within art making. What do you see?
Enjoy,
Sandra
