Posted in Art, tagged #ArtistMaryChamie, #Fine Arts #The Study of Art #Color and Luminescence, #Oregon Society of Artists, #Painting on the Edge, Michael Orwick Art Instructor on June 4, 2021| Leave a Comment »
The Bird Won
It wasn’t so long ago, but almost forever and a day, before the sun fully lifted into the sky.
The light broke, and now Freely into Blues.
Together alone
Variations of the same oil painting while playing with glazing and color mixing on birch wood.
Oil painting variations were completed during the period of time that I participated in an art class called Painting on the Edge taught by Michael Orwick, offered through the Oregon Society of Artists.
Posted in Art, tagged #Fine Arts #The Study of Art #Color and Luminescence, Artist Mary Chamie, Michael Orwick Art Instructor, Oregon Society of Artists on May 25, 2021| 4 Comments »
There are people whom I carry with me, in my head and my heart. I am finding the time, through my paintings, to bring them back into view.
Street children have lingered in my memory for decades. In this case, I recollect two boys playing cards on a heavily utilized footpath near the dhobi ghats where their parents were working as laundry washers, on the streets of Mumbai, India. I call this painted moment, “Unity.“
I took notes describing the scene.
“The boys play their game as though they are alone. Yet, in fact, they are surrounded by people swiftly walking past them. The boy’s feet touch, defining their play area. The sidewalk patterns mimic the shape of their feet and legs, further symbolizing the boys’ sense of land ownership and unity.”
Personal notes
I took a quick photo of the people walking nearby.
Most likely, the children’s parents were working in the dhobi ghats where laundry workers wash and dry clothing. The urban work space looks like this.
Each laundry washer, or dhobi, has a small area to work from where clothing and bedding are washed and hung them out to dry.
Children are around the scene, and on the streets, as many of their living arrangements are very nearby. In some cases, children are living on the sides of streets, with family members, some under difficult conditions.
Cars and trucks hurriedly stream by some of these tiny home shelters.
Successfully capturing the surrounding light and colors, depicting the boys’ levels of intimacy, illuminating their likely concerning situation and yet at the same time, highlighting the strength and endurance of these children, abstractly, is the challenge for this painting.
Work developing ideas for this oil painting are showing in an earlier blog, here. This oil painting has been completed during the period of time that I have been taking the art class called Painting on the Edge taught by Michael Orwick, offered through the Oregon Society of Artists.
Posted in Art, tagged #Fine Arts #The Study of Art #Color and Luminescence, Artist Mary Chamie, Michael Orwick Art Instructor, Oregon Society of Artists on May 16, 2021| 2 Comments »
Somewhere between the art of tonalism and luminism is a painting of all the colors seen on the horizon at the moment of sunrise. It depicts the time when a night-darkened horizon line breaks loose from the underground with bright light. Colors go from soft grey to white streams of light that allow colors to jettison through the atmosphere, bouncing onto the grounds and waters below.
It is a moment of rainbow color craziness, lasting only a few seconds before the plain morning light breaks, leaving the simpler blues and yellows of breakfast sunshine.
An en plein air painter might have 10 seconds to observe the shifting array of sunrise colors.
Photography and painting alter it, limited by the technology, techniques and mechanisms used to depict it.
I call this painting, Alone Together.
These sketches were completed during the period of time that I have been taking the art class called Painting on the Edge taught by Michael Orwick, offered through the Oregon Society of Artists.
Posted in Art, tagged #Fine Arts, Artist Mary Chamie, Calligraphy, Color and Luminescence, Michael Orwick Art Instructor, Oregon Society of Artists, The Study of Art on March 28, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Calligraphic messages seem to be everywhere in nature. They emerge from our natural surroundings and are etched into our consciousness.
By referring to “nature’s calligraphy”, I refer to a form of art that is inspired by nature, yet looks like handwriting or calligraphy, and has artistic implications that go beyond the written word.
How do I ever know what to paint when standing in such beautiful natural scenery? Where does land end and water begin? What color is the in-between?
I know by my feelings when to start painting. I will sense when that moment is here.
It is when my eyes stop at a point, where I ponder what I see, where I wonder how this place even exists it is so ephemeral. Then it is time to paint.
This quiet moment is in March and occurs while walking off-road at Sauvie Island, near Portland, Oregon We are standing in a field, looking at almost still waters. The scrub bushes and small trees on the other side of the pond are sending what looks like a calligraphic message, punctuated by clouds.
It is our first time out in a long time, owing to COVID constraints. This is also a global pandemic moment for us, an outing free of other people, social-distancing not required.
There is no noise, but for soft sounds of birds. It is a perfect moment.
It is now a painted moment.
In my mind’s eye, I see this same scene in another way, as calligraphy.
I plan to paint this again, but in a much wilder, simpler way, via the style of a notan.
The above painting was completed during the period of time that I have been taking the art classes of Michael Orwick, offered by the Oregon Society of Artists.
Posted in Art, tagged #Artist Mary Chamie, #Fine Arts, Artist, Color and Luminescence, Michael Orwick Art Instructor, Oregon Society of Artists, The Study of Art on March 17, 2021| 5 Comments »
When I was a child, some of the first things I thought to draw were pictures of the sky. It would seem that clouds were the easiest thing to draw in the world. I took my crayon, put up a white oblong shape, perhaps with the yellow sun peeking out, and was done. Voila! I had painted a cloud.
Now that I am an adult, painting clouds as part of a painting exercise for an art course, I am amazed how elusive, expressive and complicated they are. Where does a cloud begin, and when does it end? How does the sky manage to peek through the clouds in such soft and unimaginably subtle ways? Do I ever really paint a cloud, or rather an allusion to one?
The more I paint them, the more amazed I am with the ephemeral nature of clouds.
It is a challenge to use less and less color in a painting, yet still have the colors of the atmosphere roaring through, bouncing everywhere, not respecting boundaries. I think this happens often because of our focus on light streams and reflection, in addition to shape.
This seems to be true, even when painting clouds from the light of the moon.
Now that this idea of painting clouds has become part of my daily art routine, I expect to see many new ways to relate to them with canvas, brushes and paint. Once discovered, never forgotten.
The above paintings were completed this year, during the period of time that I have been taking the art classes of Michael Orwick, offered through the Oregon Society of Artists.
marysgardens 