spring
Coincidentally, I was just putting the finishing touches on this painting today and discovered the Illustration Friday theme is 'spring.' The focal point of the painting is an ancient apple tree just starting to bloom, but the colours aren't particularly springlike, and I was trying to convey an ancient feeling. I guess I could've called the painting 'Yesterday and Today' but that would compete with The Beatles, and who can compete with The Beatles?
posted by andrea at 1:43 p.m.
35 Comments:
This is positively beautiful.
Even ancient apple trees bloom in the spring - I like that! And I like the ancient objects embedded in the earth too. Very interesting version of spring.
Beautiful! Colours and composition - perfect
Or for that matter, The Rolling Stones. :-) Nice painting!!
No, chance, rrramone! The Beatles will always be the best!
Excuse me, Cream? No starting a Beatles vs. Rolling Stones competition *here*. This is where you leave all kinds of adoration and admiration for my amazing work, and I suck it up and feel like God's gift to the art world. Got it?! Or do I have to come over there and teach you a lesson?!?
Do I need a lesson as well? This is fabulous as usual, and I dig the colour palette.
O.K. I will do the adoring! The very first time I saw your work was a House with a candelabra in the foreground! I was knocked out! You know i love houses and in your style and colours it was like i went to heaven. Now 6 months later a change of season and another amazing house with your signature symbols and cubbyholes within your painting that hold magic and wonder. This is so beautiful and i love the colours!!!
Lovely illo!
This is so lovely and so perfect for the theme, and yet there is so much more.
Ancient and Spring are a perfect match - nothing is more ancient than the turning of the seasons! I like the way the colors move the eye around the canvas (orange with blue always strikes me just right), and I like the contrast between the highly-patterned backgrounds and the more solid backgrounds. But what I especially love about this - as with so many of your other works - is the symbolic/metaphorical elements that you include. It's for us to decode, I suppose, but I can imagine the experience you had as you conceived this and painted it. I always have an emotional reaction when I study your paintings, and I think it comes from more than the power of their visual beauty; I think it comes from sensing the personal relationship you have with them. Happy Spring:> (I hope that didn't sound too weird...)
I love that you didn't just divide it into above/below ground but added further segments. Love the bold lines and colors.
absolutely wonderful
The roots of the tree are my favourite part. This is a really cook painting.
Beautiful painting! Love the combination of colors. Absolutely stunning.
i am also interested in what's underneath the soil-looks like treasure. i like the house with tjat long concrete stairs where i can sit and stare at the apple tree and the beautiful view. must be the sea in the background....ohh what a lovely place.
Oh this is one of my new favorites. I LOVE this! Great job twinny!
a.
Detlef: Do you need one? (And ha ha -- you 'dig' the colour palette :)
Megg, Ursu, Rrramone, Maria, Teri, Ascender, Brock, Suzan, Mrs. Edwards: thank you.
Caroline, Sally, Krista, Isay: I can't seem to escape my obsession with painting "what's underneath". There's more to come, I can guarantee it.
Val: I have a whole collection of pictures of these old 'Vancouver specials' I want to paint. I totally understand your obsession with painting houses. I want them to be characters in a setting, like yours. I need to get/make some long panels or canvases so I can explore the idea further.
Carla: I have a lot of fun choosing the symbolic elements so that the meaning of the whole makes some sesne to me -- and where to put them/how to paint them. For example, all the seeds, including the big cross-sectioned one in the lower right are done using a stencilling method. As for the patterned backgrounds, they can be a bitch to paint, but usually the effect is worth it. I hate it when it's not, though -- and all that effort goes to waste.
Powerful and beautiful!
It is a beautiful painting, Andrea. I think the colors are just right – spring often indecisive in its weather. Spring comes with last attempts at snow and goes in a shower of petals. Every color that is not in nature stands out brighter against grey sky… Ground gives birth to the new green… and everything old is new again.
See what you made me do? Break out in poetic ravings…
I think the ancient feeling is well captured in this great piece. I love your idea of an old tree to bloom, the thought is very effective and kind of touches me inside very deeply. Those colours are beautiful and I, as a history freak, love the items underground.
it is full mystery - just as spring is.
beautiful!
this is awesomee .. i love the four seasons time approach in graphics and paintings.
wow that is unique and good.. I have never seen anything like t
Beautiful! I love the symmetry, and the way the sections draw the eye. Not sure that made any sense, but I'm trying to describe how my eye went first to the center of the tree, traveled from there to the upper corner and then clockwise around the entire image. It really drew me in. I also love the intense color and the symbolism of the ancient cycle of the seasons.
Shano, Susan, Nabeel, Bearuh: many thanks.
Albina: I love poetry and passion in the comments section! :) You got me thinking of using the greys that I used here in a more subtle combination with greens and pastels to evoke spring. The wheels they are a-turnin'...
Katili and Shane: the whole idea of life cycles and physical ties to the past fascinate me. It's something I could explore endlessly in my work and never get to the bottom of.
Nan: you said it just like an art teacher/critic. Are you sure you haven't been secretly going to art school? :)
I love the feeling that ur illo gives. A little sad, but tender.
very beautiful illo! I LOVE it!
ah.. spring, at last.... :)
(you can compete with the beatles any time, girl!)
I'm not even sure why but I'm drawn to this image. I love the vibrant of the reds and how the roots and the tree itself tells a story of its own. I want to know more about the objects on the lower right hand. Perhaps there a treasure buried deep below this home. hmmmm..... One word! Captivating.
Allthough there are so many comments, I'll too come with one -because your image is just great! It's beautiful, it's talented - I see so many different things. And why choose between you and Beatles? Why just listen to Beatles and look at your images - that's superb!
Just stunning as usual. How do you manage to be so incredibly productive!? I adore your style
Your paintings tell a story. They are organic and strong yet delicate. I would love to be inside your head when you paint. ;)
Great life cycle story here... part of what Spring is all about, right? Great composition and colors and all. Really like the steep stairway to the porch. Love that style of house.
Absolutely gorgeous and symbolic. I love the divided seasons - wonderful!
P.S. I picked up a copy of the story of Ferdinand at the antique store. I had forgotten all about it until you refreshed my memory. Thank you for that!
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