Sunday, February 22, 2015

Sentinel, painting in progress

The working title for this painting is Sentinel.
It's the second painting taken from some of my SC sketches. 
This is at a very early stage, first layers of both texture, and glazes are down, with many more of each to come.
And here it is done.
Beach Sentinal: 8x10, gazed acrylic  Sold
Lessons From The Beach, part 3,
What People Watching Taught Me
At the risk of sounding like another 'stop and smell the roses' post, I'd like to tell you a little story.
One day dog and I were walking the beach, there were herons and egrets fishing the shallows, with a host of other shore birds. Dolphins were playing in the bay, while an eagle soared overhead. Predictably I was rubbernecking, gawking, trying to soak it all in. 
I realized that several people had passed by, not pausing or looking. A gentleman with another dog approached and as our dogs greeted each other we chatted, I asked did you see the dolphins? 
No, he didn't, the eagle?  No. The green heron perched in the tree he'd just passed? No. 
As artists, we see. 
We see, and I believe that in part it is our job, our duty to show the average unseeing persons the beauty and wonder of our world through our art. A friend calls unseeing average persons muggles. Harry Potter fans will recognize muggles as non magical folk. 
Artists, we have a powerful magic, use it.  The unseeing can't learn to hold dear, and wondrous, what they can't see. 
I believe that this applies to everything that we deem worth of brush time.
Deborah Tilley paints wonderful craggy faces that tell stories of lives full of hardship, Candy McManiman paints the ubiquitous Canada Goose clothed in beautiful colour and elegant line,  Kit Cutting, dogs- especially senior dogs with gentle souls, love visible in every stroke of her brush. 
I could go on, these are only a very few of the magical artists opening our eyes to what is around us. 
 Artists keep seeing, keep creating. The world needs us. 


3 comments:

  1. I love your observations and am honoured to be mentioned in your blog

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful words Robin - illustrator, artist and wordsmith x

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you both, for allowing me to use your beautiful work as examples in my blog post.

    ReplyDelete

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