Saturday, October 30, 2021
"Time spent amongst trees is never wasted time." - Katrina Mayer
I grew up surrounded by trees. Today I paint trees. Paint what you know.
Although I work usually in many different series each year, it is the forest and trees that appear in my work quite frequently. Maybe it is that connection, that peacefulness or that grounding feeling that I enjoy so much.
Recently I had a customer purchase a painting from my 'Tangled Forest' series and they wanted me to tell them more about it. My response was something like this. "I'm trying to find that balance between abstract and landscape and 'the tangled forest' is a metaphor for the thick or difficult paths in time and life. Just like when you are hiking in the dense woods and you come upon areas that are so thick they are a struggle to continue through. So much entanglement and brush and twigs in the way. That's life. One just continues to get through so you don't remain stuck."
My regular season hours at my gallery (Cappaert Contemporary Gallery) come to an end tomorrow. We will be open weekends in December and by appointment with the official season re-opening on May 1, 2022. Meanwhile I am excited to enter the studio for the off-season with more ideas swirling in my head than time. It's a good feeling.
It has been a great year and I am grateful. First on my list in the studio is to finish several commissions that I have and then I will continue on my forest series painting as I have just been accepted into another gallery! This one (Underscore Art) in Whitefish, Montana where my focus will be tree paintings. I am thankful for all of your support...off to the studio I go!
