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!
