Something to think about......

Title: "Fertile River of Gold"

Oil on linen - 24" x 18"

Again, I apologize that this photo of finished painting is a bit darker then what the original is.  Here's my thoughts when I placed these objects together.  Starting at bottom left & moving clockwise around the work.

1. Eggs represent ideas - thoughts yet to be manifested as visual representation; musical interpretation; mathmatic equation,; IMAGINATION 

2. Tea pot - heated water to help with growth of ideas.

3. Portrait of Einstein - Genious at work ( this tile painting was a gift to me by a close friend & talented artist that created it, Deb Baughman)

4. Flowers - represent ideas brought to life / manifested.

5.  Glasswork behind flowers - Transformation!  Glass is a product made of a solid, transformed into a liquid by using extreme heat, then cooled to create what we know as glass.  It's pure Alchemy.  This piece is also placed so a corner is pointing up....a symbol of heaven/ enlightenment....we could go on & on here.

6. Espresso cup & spoon - well, simply stated as ENERGY created by pure caffeine to stimulate the brain & firing of neutrons in the body.  And, no, I'm not addicted to coffee, but I do drink a Mt Dew now and then.  I like caffeine :D

"Blue on Blue" (with a kiss of Orange)

24"x18" - Oil on Belgium linen 

Here's the set up

During this winter, I've been embracing the magic of the Still Life.  Working on something like what you see here is helping me connect the dots between drawing and painting.

"Blue on Blue" is the third in a series of works I've started and I just realized, I'm subconsciously working with "SYMBOLS".  

I was introduced to the importance of symbolism when I worked in the Stained Glass industry as a glass painter / designer.   Our primary work load was restoration of church windows.... where I became very good with replicating Munich style windows that were popular during the 1800's in American churches.  

Man's need for visual communication dates back to the caveman and when glass was introduced to openings in cathedrals, storytelling continued with the stained glass created for this space.  Hidden inside a lot of church windows were designs of fertility, pagan symbols, and the more obvious of Christian symbols for the Trinity.  This included the colors chosen to represent higher conciseness.   

One example in my painting here is the 

"Pear".  

in Chinese culture - symbolizes immortality/longevity of life.

                                      Christianity - the pear represents the Virgin and Child.

                                      Korea - Grace and Nobility/ the Pear tree represents comfort.

                                      Koren Legend - the pear gives fertility which is interpreted as creativity 

                                                                 to  women.

In other folklore - represents affection/ bond of two people in love / justice / strength/ fruitfulness/ and salvation.

What I've noticed is there are a lot of like minded artists in the universe.  We seem to gravitate to the shape of the pear and will incorporate it in our paintings in many different ways. 

One more share here....I took the above finished work photo indoors. (and still have no way of adjusting color, etc. on my computer...it seems dark to me)   Below is a photo taken with the canvas outdoors.  Man-o-Man....the Blue really dominates.  Geez!