"Peace and Simplicity"

($50.00.....6" x 6".....Water Soluble Oils on Gessobord)

"Peace washes away the clutter of life with simplicity." Have you noticed that clutter and general chaos disturbs the spirit of peace? By tackling those troublesome areas of life with simplicity, we can all have peace in our environment which will contribute to peace in the spirit.

This is an entirely experimental work in preparation for a larger piece. It was inspired by a photo of the sky that I took yesterday. I happened to be driving at the time so I pulled over and whipped out my iphone. Obviously, it is not a realistic interpretation, but a lot less blending than I was seeing with my eyes. It was meant to be an abstract piece with all of the emphasis on design.

I began with orange as my first layer. It was quickly followed by white with a tint of the blue added. The dark blues were then added followed by the process of adding a bit here and there of all the colors until I was satisfied with the texture and directional lines. Notice that the striations of light gray in the top segment are at a slight diagonal. The tinted white in the middle also has a slightly diagonal tilt while the bottom is straight. Slight diagonals in bands of color will always add more energy to the piece. 

The center of interest is in the middle band of colors where you see the darkest gray and very bright orange as well as more texture with piles of paint added in that area rather than smooth blending. The word "simplicity" is also inscribed into the paint in that area with the quote following in the lower bands of gray. 

Because the lettering at the bottom seemed to look contrived, I deliberately raked by palette knife over a part of it (deconstruction) to break up the surface tension. All in all, I am pleased because it is abstract with lettering. And that has been my goal for a long time.

However, people who do not like total abstraction will need to check out my other work. Hopefully, I can strike a happy medium as I go along. This is what experimentation is all about. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.