March 5, 2012

adventures in scapes

I am continuing to experiment out here in Lack-o-directionville. What I find really weird is that I think I'm all over the map when I compare the looser/more expressive 'land' scape in my last post to the reductive symbolscape to the left and the tight, simplified cityscape below, but when I see them together there's a definite (though, for me, still inscrutable) point of cohesion that is more than the colour palette and medium. Maybe it's their sense of barrenness and emptiness. Should I be talking to a shrink instead of painting pictures?

Winterlude 12" x 12" oil on panel

I continue to be drawn in by the way our built and natural environments intersect, either in a destructive or pathological way (last post) or in a more harmonious way (this cityscape). This scene, by the way, is at the corner of Adanac Street and Clark Drive in Vancouver.


It's been interesting but I think I need to get out of my head and start producing marketable work again. It's that little issue of keeping body and soul together.






14" x 11" oil on wood panel


5 comments:

Sheila Tansey said...

I chuckled Andrea! Well painting is therapy for me...alot cheaper than a shrink! I liked how you describe how you are drawn to how our natural and built worlds intersect! I see that in your work. And I have a thought to ponder though about your last phrase...aren't you now in your heart??
I see your paintings there as coming from your heart. OR do you mean your head in an analytical/intellectual POV?? Just curious :-)

Indigene said...

I hear you! It's difficult balancing the two. I'm finding, that if I do the heart first, everything lines up and I can see clearer. I love the first painting, it speaks volumes on the heart to me. I'm so glad you're creating, in spite of any disruptive feelings! Sending you magical powers and great hugs for inspiration! :)

Caroline said...

Yippee - looks I'll be able to comment!

I'll play shrink for you:

What do you really, really want to do that you simply aren't allowed to do?

Caroline said...

And having read your post I went to this one:

http://mossdreams.blogspot.com/2012/03/waymaking-on-road-to-hana.html

which is all about finding direction...

:)

andrea said...

Sheila: yeah, I should just paint and quit analyzing. I wonder what part of the being paintings come from..?

Indigene: Thank you and it's funny how people respond differently to different work. On FB a couple of my more cerebral-leaning friends preferred the other. Maybe I need the balance?

Caroline: That's SUCH a good question. I think what I really really want to do is let go of the labels placed on art and the associated expectations of genre and just PAINT, even if it's something trite. God knows there are worse things than being a cliche! Will now check link...