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In April, the painting below, "The Blue Bucket" was juried into the Wilmington Art Association's 30th Annual Spring Art Show, held each year in conjunction with the North Carolina Azalea Festival in Wilmington, North Carolina. The show was held at the historic St. James Episcopal Church on April 13, 14 and 15. The judge for this year’s event was Lois Griffel.
This painting is one of the few realistic paintings I have completed in the last year. Imagine my delight, when this painting received the Joseph Zell and Company Award at the 30th Annual Spring Art Show earlier this year. I think of this painting as sort of a painter’s holiday from my recent work. Since the summer of 2010 my paintings have become more abstract and my approach to painting more rigorous as I have incorporated painting techniques and color schemes to depict my inner vision. But until recently I hadn't shown them.
My current approach is to paint the patterns of light and shadows found at a specific location at one point in time. To this I add the generalized movement of people and objects that describe what is happening at the site.
Light patterns identify a place at a point in time as a light signature almost like a fingerprint. Annually these light patterns repeat at the same location on the same date and time of day. This is not a new thought. Ancient people in cultures around the world used this fact to situate temples and celebrated sacred events knowing that the sun, moon and stars would reappear in exactly the same place each year. Anthropologists suggest that Stone Hinge, Palenque, the Great Pyramids, and even Navaho kivas were sited using the position of the sun at a specific time and date. However, my paintings may be the first to depict locations and events abstractly based on light signatures.
I truly hope you enjoy “The Blue Bucket,” but please come back to experience some of my original abstract paintings in the near future.