Transitions

Oil on Canvas- 36"x 48"

I finally finished my blank canvas in July.  My life has been transitioning with work, and I am feeling myself opening up for more travel again.   

Transitioning and acquainting myself with my past, and finding its bearings on my current path of Life Journey. Transitioning away from the daily routines that do not provide me growth, and cause me to question my place in the broader scheme of life.   Living and searching for more joys in life, and cutting out the persons and activities that feel like there is a weight wrapped around my ankles. 

Maybe I'm just tapping my heals wishing "There's no place like home, There's no place like home."

My Blank Canvas

Charcoal on Canvas- 36"x 48"

 My new canvas hanging on the wall in my studio, unfinished. Five months it has been waiting.  Everyday I look at it ,and study it, and I see all the colors and brush strokes. All the steps that I need to take to make it complete.

As spring brings warmer days, I want this scene to come to life.

Day Dreams

Italian Water scape  Oil on Canvas- 36"x 48"

My work has been challenging in the real world, and as a result, I think my paintings seem to reflect some of the challenges that I am facing and the hope of some relief at the end of the year.  I started and finished this painting to help me work through a difficult time.  

My dreams of traveling are mixed with a feelings of entrapment, 
but I know that this phase of living will have an end. I'm already planning travels and filling my thoughts with day dreams along the Cote d'Azur with sunshine, blue sky, wine and the Sea.  

In subject and composition, I have started a new painting with this same theme, but it is laid out with a different point perspective.  I am anxious to see the future that the finished piece will reveal to me. 

Dreams

Italian Water scape  Oil on Canvas- 22"x42"

A few weeks ago  a friend and I were talking about vacations. We discussed what the perfect vacation meant to each of us.   The perfect vacation to me is time away from my routine life, and painting...Spending a little time each day painting on a canvas or in other types of creative endeavors. 

I have traveled twice this summer to two separate inspiring locations... but since the logements were not my own, my creative time was limited by participating only as an observer.   I have a dream to find a space one day that I can make my own, and set up "shop".  Somewhere to escape for productive and frequent times away; regenerating my energy. 

A place where I can explore the landscapes around me and feel the energy of my neighbors and life on the street.  A place that I don't have to feel isolated, but a place where I can be productive and focused with mes oeuvres and still have an opportunity to step out and interact in the world around me.  This dream is very familiar to me because this dream was once a part of my life.  And now I seek this dream again. 

These words come to my mind "Seek and you will find", but I know also that "when you dream, you are already there." 

Sun on the Sea

After my last trip to 6 Place Vieille as an artist a painter, I returned to the United States with a few of my paintings.   I was heartbroken.    All the hard work, investment, inspiration, and hope for the future success of 6 Place Vieille as an artist's gallery had vanished.    Two and half years of love and dedication slipped away in a moment with no chance to regain it.  

In the months after, several of my friends began suggesting to me that I go back to Nice, France to 6 Place Vieille, and remove the remainder of my artwork from the gallery.   The condition of the gallery was deteriorating, and the condition of the artwork left behind may also find itself deteriorated if I did not find it a new home.   

One of my friends in Italy empathized with my situation and suggested I look at Italy for a new adventure and maybe even find in Italy a new gallery.   A new hope arose in me, and during this time, this painting became the symbol of my strength to recover my artwork and give it a safe place to reside.   Whether Italy, or the United States, it did not matter, all my work needed a new home.  

I joked with my friends as my day of departure came closer.   My artwork- oil paintings and charcoal sketches- are like children left behind locked away in the back of the dark gallery.  I could hear them crying (speaking only in French) for their future to once again see the light of day, and most of all, for their safety.   There is truly a piece of me with each of them.

Sketch 2008



Unfinished Painting 2008, 30"x40"



These are images of the painting in 2008 before it was completed.  This is another painting that I had stopped work on it uninspired, and returned to work on it with a renewed passion early 2012.  I found this unfinished painting in my studio and was inspired by the circle.  I wanted a small canvas that I could go back to my roots as a painter and use the palette knife.  The final painting was a study that brought to me a new spirit and a new beginning for a new series of my work.   Hope had returned to me.   

remainder of oil paintings and charcoal sketches from Nice

              

This is a photograph of the paintings and charcoal sketches that I brought back with me to my home / studio/ gallery in Indianapolis. The story of the mission for their return had many tears and drama.   While I was in Italy and in France a passion and urgency filled me, and it became very important to make sure that all my work returned home with me.  One painting remained behind,  "28 Vallombrose".  I could not find a portfolio large enough for me to pack and carry it safely.  My dream of working as an artist in Italy is still a beautiful dream, and maybe one day it will be a dream to find fruition.   But for now, I am at peace.

  

In June I had a small private Vernissage open house exhibit in Indianapolis to celebrate the return of the paintings and to tell their story.    Slowly I have been able find inspiration and passion from many sources, and I am now realizing that all my energy doesn't come from the Sea.   I am continuing to work on series of oil paintings without the Sea, but the Sea is still a big part of me.