Wednesday, May 14, 2008

TESTAMENT #2 -Marginal

Here is the second in the series.

I like this one better than the first. I'm improving! I struggled with getting the shapes right. I paint from photos that I have taken. I edited this one very little. I moved the bike rider out of the shadows and removed a few distracting details.
I really like the shapes of the freeways in this area. I'll be re-visiting it I think.


Thursday, May 01, 2008

THEMES OF MY ARTWORK
The themes of my artwork come from events in my everyday life. Subjects can range from scenes in an alley-way to the view of my husband and dog from the passenger seat.

For the last twenty-five years I've been a full time truck driver. The view from the cab of a Kenworth truck has provided plenty of inspiration. I enjoy the play of light and shadow on the ever-present cement structures found in urban settings.

I've been working on a series of paintings about that - freeways, overpasses, bridges, pillars and buildings. The challenge is to show the beauty in what is generally thought of as just ugly cement. I like the way the light plays on them, the way it highlights their shapes and creates new shapes in the shadow, light interplay.

I've set myself a challenge of at least eight such paintings for this series.

I've entitled the series Testament. I'm not sure if I can explain how I arrived at that title, or if I even should! In my mind, it has to do with what the future archeologists will think about what they find from our culture. Because they are so huge and everywhere, I imagine they will survive us. They will be the testament to our way of life.


This is the first, I've entitled TESTAMENT #1: Columbia