I've been working on a slow painting - the first in a couple of years - and think a verse by G.K. Chesterton would suit the image well enough:
Up through an empty house of stars,
Being what heart you are,
Up the inhuman steeps of space
As on a staircase go in grace,
Carrying the firelight on your face
Beyond the loneliest star.
They go together nicely.
ReplyDeleteTHat is a perfect combination of visual and verse Susan
ReplyDeleteI third the motion. There's a beautiful sadness in your work. Perhaps it's that starry blue.
ReplyDeleteRandal is right( as almost always) there is a kind of sadness in your work. Your work, to me, makes me imagine a kind of silence that can't exist in our world. There is a tremendous beauty in that other world and yet it makes one aware of all of the noise in this one. Gorgeous, Susan.
ReplyDeletexxoo
nancy - Thanks!
ReplyDeletejams - It's called serendipity :-)
randal - and all this time I thought I was cute :-)
belette - I'd say just because it doesn't exist in the world right now (esp. this bit) doesn't mean we can't do better. We may as a race eventually grow up.. at least I'd like to think so. Besides, Crow has faith in us so things can't be all bad.
that's beautiful susan! it's a very sophisticated color set and the tree- i love the oranges. your paintings are always rich with imagery and colors.
ReplyDeletei'm not getting 'sad' from it. it feels bit dark from the black and red border, and the almost stormy feel of the sky, but the horse implies protection, like the presence of a angel. the horse is safely escorting the girl and there are oranges to eat.
there is a look of firm determination in their faces.
as in the poem, there is light "beyond the lonliest star." it transcends sadness because there is light and hope and movement.
as crow says, things can't be all bad. the horse, after all, has white feet.
your art is a magical beacon of light.
sera - Truth to tell I feel it's somewhat overpainted but I got carried away here and there and before I knew it was oozing more intensity of color that I'd originally planned. Of course too, its full size is 10x14" so the colors are more dense than in the original or in my folder. Blogger is funny that way.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to know it doesn't imply sadness to you because, although I'd admit to a certain melancholy, I feel we're going through a painful but necessary maturation. Well, some of us now and others a bit later :-) The horse has white feet so we can see to follow him in the dark.
I wonder what you mean by "over-painted", exactly?
ReplyDeleteMy eye went first to the majestic horse which to me looks female. Then my eye wandered up to the tree and fell in love with the orange you used for its fruit. I love that tree.
pagan sphinx - Ahh, to explain my version of overpainted is to admit the fact I don't always use accepted watercolor methods and tend to use them like oils. Sometimes that means I get committed to using colors that are more intense simply to offset a previous choice in a particular area. This time the tree was about to overwhelm the image so I had to compensate in the rest for the sake of balance. I lit up the horse more than I'd expected to but I'm glad to know it seems to have worked.
ReplyDeleteI love all of this. Particularly the tree! It's got the kind of form I would be wanting to sketch or paint. Age and beauty.
ReplyDeleteFunny what we notice. I focused on the rider, almost nude, intrigueing and imaginative, then to the tree and the balls of fruit, (or round leaves, after all, it can be fantasy)
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned the white hooves to show the way. I saw the blue reigns, infantry blue you know.
As always, very nice stuff susan. We're about ready for a barter. Dream Catcher anyone?
Peace.
steve - It's one way of imagining Yggdrasil - old, strange and still filled with power. I'm glad you like it.
ReplyDeletespadoman - Yes, it's meant to be a fantasy image but so is most of what I paint. A future trade is well worth considering :-)
it doesn't seem overpainted at all! i've seen mascara applied with a lot less finesse.
ReplyDeletesera - My heart longs for the perfection of simplicity expressed in clarity. My hands and eyes have yet to arrive.
ReplyDeletea) the painting is nicelygood&stuff
ReplyDeleteb) what you said,
"My heart longs for the perfection of simplicity expressed in clarity."
....was even niceliergood&peachie-keen
okjimm - We're on the same wavelength :-)
ReplyDelete