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Sometimes it Takes a Great Sky

10/25/2021

4 Comments

 
Picture
Sometimes it Takes a Great Sky
​"Sometimes it Takes a Great Sky" - acrylic on cradled wood panel, 30 x 40 x 1.5.  Ready to hang.  Available here and at Artfinder.


Sometimes it takes

a great sky
to find that

first, bright
and indescribable
wedge of freedom
in your own heart.

Sometimes with
the bones of the black
sticks left when the fire
has gone out

someone has written
something new
in the ashes of your life.

You are not leaving.
Even as the light fades quickly now,
you are arriving.” 
― David Whyte
The gorge follows me into the studio, grabs my hands and begs them to paint her.  There are great skies there over the Columbia River...big skies, dramatic skies.  Skies that reach deeply into the water and pull me down to its reflective depths.  

We recently followed the light up Beacon Rock as the sun was setting - even as the light fades quickly now, you are arriving.  In that fading light, which raced down the cliff walls nearly faster than we could race up the rock, in that softly illuminated sky, my senses reeled for a moment - overwhelmed by the grandeur of that place, that day, my life, the bright...wedge of freedom in my own heart.  Whyte's words reached into my depths just as the light penetrated the river.  Oh.

About the art:  inspired by a photograph I took in the gorge, this piece was loosely drawn with chunky charcoal, then blended into a monochromatic compositional map by adding water and titanium white.  Using only the colors from an exquisite fantasy painting created by my partner (a color palette shift and a challenge for me) and using a rubber wedge, squeegee, large paintbrush and a spray bottle, the requisite 80 million layers were added.  Linework created using stabilo woody pencils (my favorites).  The bulk of this piece was created during Portland Open Studios, with finishing layers after several days of pondering and sneaking up on the piece to see what worked and what did not.
4 Comments
Dotty Seiter link
10/24/2021 07:30:55 pm

Jen, thank you once again for taking me/all of us along with you—to the gorge, to great skies, to have our hands grabbed, to play with a large paintbrush and a spray bottle, to find the wedge of freedom in our hearts. Hoo-ee. I am just now catching my breath!

Reply
lola (jen)
10/25/2021 03:29:16 pm

Dotty! I love it when you (and all the rest of you) come out and play with me!!! xo

Reply
Carol Edan link
10/27/2021 01:42:30 am

"sneaking up on the piece to see what worked and what did not." a practise that I am loving. Your hikes, skies,gorges bring me to places I can only dream about!Thanks for sharing!

Reply
lola (jen)
11/6/2021 03:02:39 pm

Carol! I am happy to bring you to dreaming places...xoxoxo

Reply



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Here's the blue wild, where
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