Abstracts and Mixed Media

Kituwah, the acknowledged homeland of all three Bands of the Cherokee, came to belong to white neighbors after the forced removal of a good portion of the Eastern Band to Oklahoma. In intervening years many of them returned to the area. In 1996, the Eastern Band purchased their homeland back and it is now under their jurisdiction. During the years before this purchase, the land became known locally as Ferguson Fields, for the family who owned it, and those who farmed it. On my almost daily walks along the roads that encircle the fields, which are now farmed by the Cherokee, LinaBlue and I often choose to walk past a very old silo that remains standing from days long gone by. It is nestled in a grove of scrub trees of which most seem to be invasives introduced by the white inhabitants. The colors of the walls of the silo are beautiful especially as seen through small tree limbs. Some friends of mine once saw a barn owl fly from the silo and this adds to my fascination of the area. I admire the Cherokee for letting the structure stand as it serves no purpose that I can imagine. It did make me want to paint this small abstract in its honor however.

On a walk on the trails at home I suddenly noticed this bank and was struck by the beauty of regeneration that I saw in progress. It is a slow process but a wonderful one if left undisturbed which hopefully this one will be as it is part of the conservation easement on the property. I used sand from the bottom of the bank to create the texture on the canvas which I saw as perfectly fitting – conveying more than I could with a smooth surface.

I used sand filled with bits of Mica to texture the body of the painting. When light floods the ridges, the colors are truly amazing and I love the warm feeling it gives me. Just being before my canvas, the colors make the brush dance.

The canvas is textured with sand from the creek (Lands Creek) and painted with a painting knife and other found materials in my studio. No brush work. I love the colors in March and never tire of painting the creek which runs through our valley.

This is a collage of torn and pieced watercolor papers, painted with acrylic matte medium and transparent watercolor paints. It was inspired by old mine shafts in Western North Carolina. I chose this approach to better represent the solidity of the stone and cement work that framed the entrance to the mine.

Off the coast of Mississippi, this lagoon is the first stop-over for many bird species on their journey North. I have tried to depict the varied vegetation, sand dunes and lovely colors using water media, as well as surface manipulation with handmade paper collage. The intense yellow in the sand is from sandstone on our property, which I ground into yellow sand-like particles.

When we walk trails in the Appalachians, often they follow the trail of animals and of ancient humans. I feel the spirit of the ancients when I travel, and if I listen carefully, wind moans softly speaking their perfect language.

Goldfinches seem to be everywhere perched in the woods edging our front and back yards. They fit the landscape and add to the patterns of the forest. I collaged the torn pieces of my handmade paper onto the purchased paper to add to the illusion of pattern and movement – the energy we see every day in nature.

Several Native American tribes esteemed the courage and intelligence of the Gray Wolf and believed that living in harmony with this magnificent animal was to create a more courageous and honorable tribe of people. For some the wolf was good medicine and a personal totem. Collaged handmade paper suggests this harmony with nature.

I need to paint abstracts at times to regain my equilibrium, especially when I have been painting detailed works and then I am focused and ready to revisit the canvas, or paper, with new energy. I also love losing myself in what is happening when I work abstractly — a quite different experience in my journey as a painter.

Abstract Expressionism is not my usual style but, in this case, my brush took me there.  As I painted, I kept hearing a voice telling me that redemption is attained through reaching spiritual consciousness, and the road is never easy but the rewards are there for each of us. It is where we all need to travel to seek the rewards of having been granted this incredible thing we call life.

I think of this painting as a visual ode addressed to the Native Americans. I tried to give a lofty feeling to the elusive forms in the rich, warm colors which, while not elaborate, signify the dignity of an honorable people who were dispossessed of their ancestral lands. Their spirits dwell in the paint I used to sing their story.

The land in these mountains suffers much abuse at the hands of man and of nature, but if left undisturbed for a while it is slowly reclaimed by the natural procession of plants and trees that prepare it for the rich landscape it was once and was meant to be.

I painted this piece for personal reasons and do not want to explain as I hope it will speak to each viewer in a meaningful way. I will say that I was painting with contrasting colors and this is also part of my journey with this work. It is a spiritual painting however it speaks to you.

Contrasting colors, shapes, sounds, styles all affect how we observe the world around us. For instance, it is fascinating how a 2-dimensional surface can appear 3-dimensional by juxtaposing these design elements. I have an ongoing love affair with the use of contrasting colors and the overlapping of similar shapes to achieve depth.

I wanted to preserve the old hinge that some friends and I found at an abandoned cabin site, and the ring probably from a mule harness. The shard of pottery I found in the sand beside our creek. Amazing how the ring became a mirror of sorts on the door. Things happen when you are painting and you are open to see where it all goes. Maybe that is why this title of a Leonard Cohen song works for me.

Painted in late November, 2019... we missed the red flags and then the pandemic happened.

My place of worship is in the forest among the trees, but swamps are also spiritual places as are large bodies of water and of course churches for many. They are places to pause and offer thanks for the life we have been given and to hope for this world to continue as we know it. Any place can offer solace if you pause and let the spiritual world become as one with you.

I love horses and this is a favorite painting of mine. It has everything in it I love doing – making paper, dripping and splashing paint, dribbling iridescence on the surface and then STILL there is the horse!

As things become clear?  Or not, I guess. It is what I was feeling when I did the painting and somehow when I look at it, I feel just the same as that day - but it's hard to put some things into words.

Where horses run free, our spirit runs with them.

This painting is based on a double or triple exposed photograph George took a number of years ago in Poncho Springs, CO. where a magnificent sculpture of a horse, assembled from hubcaps, dwells close to the turn made to travel the San Juan Valley into New Mexico.

As soon as I glued my papers on the canvas and picked up paint-loaded brushes, my road totally changed and the result is what you see. I also incorporated quotes from The Way of Chinese Painting (excerpts from the Mustard Seed Manual of Chinese Painting) as this is the mantra in my paintings and in my life.