Total Art Soul - for artists

Spring has come, at last! Sure, it's still a bit shy, but the trees did not hesitate: with the first sun rays, they started to stretch their branches and to dress them with beautiful small flowers. I love spring and I love trees in blossom! And I especially love the cherry trees.

To me, the delicate cherry flowers are the supreme symbol of purity and serenity, flowers capable, if we look at them attentively, of freeing us from the chaos of everyday life... look...

According to Chinese mythology, in the goddess Xi Wang Mu's magic garden grew immortality cherry trees and long-life cherries. Furthermore, in China the cherry tree wood is said to ward off evil spirits.

That is why, when I subscribed to the European Design Contest 2012 organised by Swarovski and I-Beads, I decided to make silver cherry flowers. The white and luminous silver is a purity symbol too and the petals' silver shine enhances the yellow pistils represented by 3 Flat Back Swarovski Topaze Strass 1,8 mm (3 strass x 4 flowers = 12 strass).

The first selection is based on the public's votes on the Internet. So, if you like this jewel, you can vote by clicking on the following link (and if you wish, you are also welcome to share it :-)

http://www.bloomingbeautifulcompetition.com/fr/design-gallerie/#146_1

This flower composition can be worn as a pendant, attached to a brown silk cord representing a branch, as a bracelet (you just need to wrap the "branch" around your wrist) or as a brooch.

I'll wait for your on the Blooming Beautiful's website : http://www.bloomingbeautifulcompetition.com/fr/design-gallerie/#146_1

Thank you and see you soon :-)

Si'

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If you’ve ever been in Africa on a hot afternoon when the smouldering sun is intent on roasting anything which is stupid enough to be found exposed on the dry cracked hot plate of soil, then you will know what the intense heat of such an afternoon can do to an artist’s imagination. One of my favourite things to do on days when all sane individuals have retired to the cool shade of veranda’s and trees, is to brave the scorching heat and to walk into the veld.  Once alone I locate a small hill which will afford me an open view of a valley. From such a vantage point I can see miles across the swimming and dancing landscapes as the afternoon heat brings mirages and illusions of cool water flowing across the thirsty scene.

Once out of the stinging view of the sun, the hot shade of a Mimosa tree allows me to relax and enjoy the silence of the African bush.  It is a silence like no other and at first one could be excused for thinking that you have lost your hearing in the thick silence. It is like having a pillow over your head and just as you are about to click your fingers to reassure yourself that you have not lost your hearing suddenly some flying insect races past. Its sound passes, in stereo, first from one ear, then past your face and onto the next, punctuating the silence with its buzz. As you sit and wait, slowly your ears become accustomed to the soundtrack which accompanies the scene and you begin to hear the bush as if for the first time, the scene ushered in on an overture of sound from screeching cicada beetles.

To those who are familiar with the bush this will not be a new experience and will be one which is almost taken for granted.  For me who has had his ears anaesthetised by the white noise of the city however this is like regaining consciousness after surgery. The sounds of the hot afternoon begin to penetrate my memory banks of sounds deposited from the years I was raised in Africa.

I have never found it easy to paint in the outdoors; perhaps it’s the uncertain and disorderly nature of painting away from the familiar and ordered character of my studio that I find hard. Painting with watercolour under these conditions is difficult as the heat dries out the paper and pigment very fast, adding another layer of complexity to the process. On these occasions I rely on my camera, lenses and an ability to compile a scene which I will enjoy painting on my return to my little studio. During the long cold and damp months of an English winter, painting scenes like these will bring with them the warm memories and sounds of a hot afternoon in the veld. The contrast of colours are inspiring; from the vermillion orange of the aloe flowers to the duck-egg blue of the sky and from the rich browns and khaki shades of the grass to the deep greens of the mimosa trees.

The memory of this view and the small outcrop of iron stone boulders and shady mimosa trees will serve as the canvas on which I will paint the narrative of an afternoon spent in the company of these five lovely ladies the “red heads” of Harrison Farm.

Although I have many photographs of similar scenes I have used this lovely photo taken by my good friend and owner of Harriosn Farm & Harrison Hope Wine Estate, Ronnie Vehorn &  The Traveling Writer

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My time at Dorland Mountain Arts Colony is coming to an end.

It is also my last of the three residencies I’ve received this winter. It has been an amazing journey. Weir Farm National Historic Site brought my work to a new level and I experienced many a break through there. Brush Creek in Wyoming was so good for my soul with its humbling majestic beauty. My work strengthened there as well.

Dorland is a truly magical place. ( I will be coming back for two additional weeks sometime this year! ). To wake each morning and look at the vista out my back porch is just an inspiring moment. Here my work in a very short time took a new turn as well. I am lucky enough to return to California and Arizona at the end of next week and I look forward to taking what I learned from the landscape around Dorland into my new work.

I'm not sure how to describe it but there's just an atmosphere here that pushes you to create...and you just can't ask for anything more. Thank you to the wonderful people who make this such an amazing place.

Here are the rest of my paintings completed at Dorland. If you're interested in seeing works completed at Weir Farm please visit my website EvelynMcCPetersArt.com. I will post my work from Brush Creek next week. It is currently hanging at The Studio at Gulf and Pine in Anna Maria Florida.

Thanks for stopping by!

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