Sacred Home Rendered on Paper

Sandra Dunn of Medicine Park, Oklahoma is this week's guest blogger for the Artist as Collector Series.

Forest
Watercolor
5" x 7"
©ValeriannaClaff

Valerianna Claff is an artist living in the densely forested foothills of western Massachusetts.

We formed a friendship through our blogs and she gifted me with "Forest" - a seedling

painting of her much larger watercolors in the same series.  

Glowing moonlight invites me into the painting's primal and peaceful forest - a place that

Valerianna calls "sacred home."  Sweeping tonal washes and simple brushstrokes create a magical

landscape that leaves so much to my imagination.  I appreciate her love of nature and the intimate connection she seems to have with her native woods.  

There seems to be an effortless and tender translation from her heart to rendering on paper of these things. 

Sandra Dunn is a painter working primarily in encaustic, and is inspired by nature, spirit, emotion and imagination.

Begin Again - A Spring Collage

Noticing that many of the recent Artist as Collector posts on this blog were paintings or prints with a cooler palette- a winter theme, I am switching gears and posting a collage for the first day of spring. (yippee! spring!)

Begin Again
Watercolor, ink, and collage on paper
8" x 11"
©2013NanciHersh

This began as a watercolor that I did at the hospital two years ago after my surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering.  I pulled it out after I created a collage from another watercolor done at that time. (They had a sunny room for patients and their families with live music and lots of art supplies.)

From the Heart
Watercolor, watercolor pencil, ink and collage
4" x 6"
©2013NanciHersh

That collage became a SendOutCard Thank you campaign I sent to people who have supported me along the way (if I missed YOU- let me know and I will be happy to send you one, too!)  The cards were well received and I revisited the other watercolors I did that afternoon and went back and worked on them as well.

Perfect for spring, two years post surgery (feeling well- and blessed, thank you.)

Here's to new beginnings....

Happy Spring! What are you looking forward?

Weathering the Storm

Watercolor marine artist, Annie Strack is this week's guest blogger.


This particular painting in my collection is one that carries a high value to me. It came to me in the fall of 2005, about a month or two after Hurricane Katrina. 

©2012Delaina LeBlanc

Many of my artist friends lived in St Bernard Parish, and the storm scattered everyone far and wide. I was able to contact a few of them after the storm, and we made arrangements to meet up in order to try to re-band our little artist guild. Unlike my friends in St Bernard, I didn't lose my home and everything in it. High winds and flying debris had tore the roof off my house and crushed my car, but I was spared from the worst of the disaster. I gathered up whatever extra art supplies I had in my studio and boxed them up so I could take them to the meeting and share them with my friends. Another artist friend, Delaina LeBlanc, heard what I was going to do, and she brought several boxes of her own art supplies for me to add to the pot. Among her items was this lovely painting. She was hoping that one of the artists might re-use the canvas by painting over it. She didn't even know any of these people, and she had her own storm losses to to deal with, but she wanted to help in any way that she could. I asked her if it was alright if I kept this painting for myself, because I felt it was too beautiful to be painted over. She pointed out that it was just an quick study from her younger days and not really a finished piece of art, but she gave it to me anyway. That's the true value in this painting -- friendship.

Annie Strack is an award winning classically trained marine artist who teaches, writes, and curates  when she is not painting- or checking out the art scene in her fairly recent home of Chester County, PA. 

Art Heals

Whether you are looking at art, or making it;  art has the ability to transform our experience.

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center gets it.

The Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center houses a major collection of paintings, works on paper, photographs and some sculpture, as does their other buildings.  Art fills the hallways and entry ways.  

©2011JoyceKozloff

I was pleased to see some of Joyce Kozloff's small maps in the building on 53rd street where my plastic surgeon has his office. 

The only place that art was missing was in my room- though it did have a magnetized bulletin board.

Fortunately, the 15th floor in the main hospital housed a recreation room, along with an outdoor patio (fresh air and sunshine!) and some interesting shadows (of course I had my camera!)

There was also live music at the time, a library, work tables, a sink and storage closets full of art and craft supplies.  A young woman assisted me in gathering up an assortment of quality brushes,  heavier paper, watercolors and watercolor pencils.

I spent some time working freely, playfully, and enjoying the reprieve from being a patient. 

10.5" x 7.5"
Watercolor on paper
©2011NanciHersh

7.5" x 10.5"
Watercolor on paper
©2011NanciHersh

7.5" x 10.5"
Watercolor on paper
©2011NanciHersh

7.5" x 10.5"
Watercolor on paper
©2011NanciHersh

Now, I had art for my room.

How have you used art to transform your space or experience?

Different day- different approach

March 12 & 14th Tea Bag drawings:

how to be fluid and approach each moment with a freshness.

I woke up to an amazing dream within a dream. It was exhilarating and scary- I was in some sort of competition and had to jump down from amazing heights, often over stairs. It seemed impossible to jump out so far without landing so hard, but hey, I was dreaming so I knew I would be fine, and I was. Faith.

Butterflies & more... from St. Martin

I did keep a sketchbook and did some watercolors as well. We spent a couple of hours at the Butterfly Farm on the French Side of St. Martin, www.thebutterflyfarm.com. I sat on a bench with butterflies fluttering by... and on us!! Griffin and Nate, also helped with adding their own butterflies in the drawing.

It was wonderful seeing Blue Morphos in flight, as my friend from Brearley School, Janice Marsili gifted me the most beautiful ring at the end of my residency. Designed by Barbara Bosco at www.bboscodesigns.com
www.wingtales.com
these rings are made from butterfly wings - all butterfly wings used are from already deceased butterflies (which is a whole 'nother wild story - at the farm we learned that one type of butterfly is a chrysalis for 6 months only to live as a butterfly for 2 days! There must be some lesson for us in that....)

Color on a Gray Day

I took this shot on of the boat just over a week ago on Ilet Pinel on the French side of St. Martin in the Caribbean. We were there for a family vacation. It was great to be in the warm sunshine... and surrounded by vibrant colors- the turquoise waters, brightly colored buildings and boats, and lush tropical beauty. All very seductive... especially as an artist and former beach bum. These days it is #30 sunscreen and a hat but it felt great to be warm surrounded by lushness. However, also as an artist and a "pilgrim on the path of love" (love that poster at Kripalu in Lenox, MA) it was hard to overlook the over building and gentrification you saw EVERYWHERE and also the shacks and poverty. There always seems to be that dichotomy... Tried to be generous where I could and remember gratitude and compassion as well.