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Cultivating Wonder

8/7/2019

10 Comments

 
"Cultivating Wonder" - mixed media on aquabord, 16" c 20".  Ready to frame, or can be leaded agains a wall upon a shelf.  Available here and at Artfinder.

The final installment of a three part exploration of abstracted landscape.  In this version, the small shapes have been simplified and merged into blocks of color and texture.  Vertical forms simplified, no longer trees, but maybe just whispering "tree-like" in a very soft voice.  The waterfalls have vanished, replaced by the suggestion of movement.
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The hardest part of the final piece was resisting details, erasing obvious forms, allowing the paint to move and become something unplanned. 
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Cultivating Wonder
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watercolor sketch

Abstraction is a form of surrender without losing your voice.  Surrendering to the paint, the shapes, the textures.  Surrendering control and forced outcomes.  Surrendering realism.  It is like squinting your eyes at a scene - blurred shapes and colors, details lost but implied.  And doing that while still keeping true to your own esthetic.  And it never fails to create a sense of wonder in me when it all comes together and whispers (or screams!) that it is finished.

​I'll be joining the AMAZING Stan Kurth for a four day abstract workshop next week (my second time learning from the grand master of abstraction) so the blog will have a little vacation while I push around some paint and throw my hands up in surrender.   I'll be posting pics on facebook and instagram if you want to follow along with the workshop and see what secrets Kurth is sharing with us.  
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Tumbling Down (sold)
10 Comments
Carolyn
8/8/2019 12:31:35 pm

Simply beautiful!!!!

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jen
8/8/2019 02:47:04 pm

Woot! Thank you, Carolyn! I am delighted with this one. :)

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Dotty Seiter link
8/8/2019 12:44:49 pm

Jen, you speak directly to my soul here. You identify my yearning. That surrender: hoo boy, not easy.

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Thank you.

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That thin line of blue above the block of red: YES.

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jen
8/8/2019 02:47:48 pm

Dotty! Thank you! Hoo boy is RIGHT! And the thin line....a final touch. The last step. It made me smile.

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Carol Edan link
8/8/2019 01:57:59 pm

This is certainly WOW! Can't wait to see what you will produce! Green with envy! Don't forget progress shots!

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jen
8/8/2019 02:48:25 pm

Carol, I am SO excited to take a second workshop with Stan! And I will post progress shots. Thanks for the reminder!

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Carl
8/8/2019 02:16:29 pm

Stunning. You make it look easy and I know it’s not. Great work!

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Jen
8/8/2019 02:49:22 pm

Carl, there is so much TENSION and ANGST in creating abstracts! And days of wrestling with my hands, telling them to STOP trying to fuss over things. Sometimes my brain wins, sometimes the hands win. ha ha!

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Stan Kurth link
8/8/2019 05:37:09 pm

Excellent painting, Jen. Nice texture, color juxtaposition, shapes, line, movement, value and unity.

What the heck!? Grand Master? ...pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. haha. It's all a grand illusion!

Looking forward to seeing you.

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jen
8/8/2019 05:39:05 pm

OOOOOH STAN KURTH! Always honored to garner a comment from the GRANDEST of Grand Masters! Can't wait to push some boundaries next week. :)

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Here's the blue wild, where
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(by poet Mary W. Cox)
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  • Home
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