Sunday, December 20, 2009

New painting: "Embracing Essential Weaknesses: From dead to alive"

"Embracing Essential Weaknesses: From dead to alive"
Acrylic on Stretched Canvas
20'' x 20''

Miss me :) The school semester is over so I have more painting time (can't wait to graduate...get my precious painting time back!).

With recent events in my life, a whole lot of realizations and self-discovery started to come about. If you're human, you have cried (if you haven't, you've got issues). While there are tears of joy that exist, when we cry it may make us feel so overwhelmed, sad, lonely, disappointed, depressed, hopeless, helpless, miserable and on and on. But how do you feel afterwards? Worse or better? Think about it.

I'm learning to embrace my tears. I already consider myself a highly emotional person; even a sad commercial can have me reaching for the tissues. But I've kept those moments to myself...robbed myself of growth. Growth doesn't happen when I hide away, I only punish myself when I do so. Unfortunately, I've become used to that feeling. Yet, with my wonderful close friends and having recently joined a group of amazing ladies, my discussions with them are enabling me to learn how to tune into myself, to except my feelings and not feel ashamed or uncomfortable expressing them. The growth comes when I take the time to evaluate what really triggered whatever emotional reaction I have, review my options and make a next move. Growth comes from continuing to grow, even when that means changing what you've felt secure in.

With all that said, I present my latest painting. The background is meant to resemble concrete. I chose concrete because it reminds me of finality. It goes from one form where it can be molded into anything and into another form that it set - it cannot be adjusted and can only change if it's cracked or destroyed. Reminds me of how I feel about myself, grown into this emotional form that feels trapped when tears dare to crack the secure surface I've established for myself. Though the tear is overwhelming, I now recognize the opportunity of inner growth. I'm not rushing to get rid or hide the tear but want to acknowledge and respect it. This little plant growing from beneath the surface is a metaphor for so many opportunities of expression in my life that I've feared, this fear bonded the concrete. With the crack in the surface I'm allowing myself to see what would be revealed if I allowed this plant continue. As I saw as a friends status on Facebook "When people don't express themselves, they die one piece at a time." — Laurie Halse Anderson (Speak)" it is oh so true. I've experienced what I stand to lose by not nourishing this little plant. I look forward now to its growth, in embracing myself and I imagine my artwork will evolve as well.

As always, I look forward to your thoughts.

~Michelle


Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Change of pace for a little bit

Hi All,

Though I have a few new paintings to post, I'll make an editorial change to the blog. If you've been reading the blog for a while, you'll notice that I usually post something when I've done a new painting. I'll of course continue to do that but want to pay respect to the prior works that you may or may not be familiar with.

My strategy for doing that is doing a write up of works done in the past. When I go to museums or galleries and see works of art, I always come across work where I wonder what the artist was thinking. So I want to share what I was thinking/feeling about these works. Some pieces were done as far back as my high school days so I may not even remember what I was thinking in the moments of its creation so what I would write is my current interpretation of the piece.

As you read these upcoming posts, share your interpretation of these pieces as well! Stay tuned.

Regards,
Michelle

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Latest painting (which is yet to be named)

Hello everyone,

Thank you for clicking through. Below is my latest painting inspired by a turtle lamp my boyfriend gave me for Christmas.



Untitled
20'' x 20''
Acrylic on Stretched Canvas

A title for it hasn't come to me yet but I'll update this post whenever it does. The turtle lamp has a painted glass shell that illuminates when turned on. A real beauty. For this painting I wanted to create the shape of a turtle without using the outline of one. This painting took some time to complete as I was continuing to figure out how I wanted it to evolve. The end result wasn't as clear as with some other paintings I've done. During its evolution, I added blue lines flowing through the turtle's body. I interpret them as making up the turtle's life steam or internal wiring, an essential part of its being. That brings up (for me) images of newly hatched turtles making their way to the nearest source of water as fast as they can. Water encourages it to move since it would die if it stayed still.

Not to relate the water in the turtle to the blood within us but I like to think that we all have something external that brings life to us, something on the outside that sets off a spark within us. For me that is art (painting or drawing). I don't feel complete when I haven't done something artistic in sometime (have been there and it ends up draining other parts of my life). Perhaps you have discovered what creates that spark within you?

If you chose to share your thoughts with me, feel free to send me an email at mhunterart@gmail.com or leave a comment on this post. Enjoy your day.

~Michelle

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

has a new painting idea. If only if I has the time to start all the other ideas I have. I need a clone.