Southwest storm has been blowing in with Tropical Storm Emily. She’s the first of this summer’s tropical blow hards. A rain event in our east Florida coast but there was heavy flooding in other Floridian terrains.
This 7 x 10″ is pastel (Unison Brand) on Cotman watercolor 140 lb. cold pressed paper. Winsor & Newton watercolors are the base.
Florida landscapes scream red at me. My first paintings in 1987 came out this way and I didn’t understand why my psyche was picking up red in the green landscape. My first possible answer is that the land was angry at being ripped up by the wholesale destruction of natural habitat. That may yet be true. However, this piece was created on site of an old settlement of a human/wildlife habitat so I was curious to why I’m still picking up the reds.
Looking at maps of Tropical Storm Emily, that red center where the strongest winds hail might be where this vibration got picked up. But the storm didn’t blow into town until today. This painting was created last night. Premonitionary? Maybe.
What I think is really happening is that my psyche needs to balance the intense greens of our gorgeous Floridian sub-tropical environment. An inner landscape is coming out in me.
That inner landscape has started with my recent return to the study of ancient Hindu understandings of chakras, energies, cyclic times, power sources in our body, and kundilini yoga. I thirst for robust, passionate colors. Hindu culture has produced some of earth’s richest passionate colors and still do.
My conclusion about the red is this: I am the vehicle of seeing and laying out shape with color. My body is tuning into my new knowledge of the resources I studied long ago and kept. My Spirit is bringing forth the colors. For me as an Artist, it’s out of my comfort zone to not paint exactly what I see…like a camera. So I’m striking out with color which shocks me…but feels right.
This is an artist’s stormy passions on the page.
Fabulous!