all are lovely, beautiful art. my favorite is hot and humid. for me it evokes the paradigm within which it resides: that of a bold Japanese rendition, powerful strokes, and strong color contrast. the lines are intuitive, thick in recession, delicate in front.

I would be proud to have this on my wall.

I had no doubt before, but this certainly confirms that you are a wonderful artist.

So, do you like traditional japanese paintings? You seem well versed. Did you study it or do it?

Technical thing, I work in a chinese style of brush painting, but it is very similar. The details are in the incorporation of color and composition.

of course, I should have recognized the difference. I don't do Japanese art, unless you count some woodworking or joinery. Being a cabinetmaker I have a love of the Japanese aesthetic, from shojii screens to pegless timber joinery. I have a number of Japanese tools which represent not only a different philosophy but different implementation and execution. An artisan can jump on a bus or train with a canvas bag of lightweight but exquisite tools and have everything he needs for the day. It would not be possible for a western worker to do the same.

Aesthetically, I'm oriented eastward, so to speak.

Rose-red... partly because of the colors, which are different than in the other three, and it seems more subtle to me without the ink. Autumn Harvest would be my 2nd choice. However, I would love to own any one of them.

I admire wood work. I have done a series of line drawings in the style of Japanese woodblock and I am translating the technology for use in clay. The issue of undercuts is a serious design problem in making claycuts. But I think I have it resolved.

I love the idea of portability in craft. I have always been proud of the fact that I can go anywhere and work without any special tools, as my hands are the main thing.

It is like that with painting as well. The brush is sacred and it can make the painter more skillful when it is well made. But a real artist can make beautiful marks even with a common stick off the ground.
My husband taught me to practice guitar on a beautiful instrument. It makes you try harder. But there is Willie Nelson's guitar to demonstrate the point above.

Getting to that point is the journey, in any artform. People say it about a lot of different things. Like a good singer can sing any style, a good dancer can perform many styles. Versatility is an aspect of great artists that I aspire to obtain.

I am still a better designer than artist, but I am working on it. I have trouble accessing my emotions and artists have to. I didn't realize that peacock painting was a portrait of my father for about two years, until I did the writing and looked for photos of peacocks to illustrate the story. I just thought I had painted a pretty bird.

Go figure.

You should feel free to print them out. I am not sure how well it will work from these images, but it is the originals that have the most value. If ou enjoy anything I post on the blog, feel free to copy it, but distribute it only with appropriate attribution...Blahblah blah

I am really glad you like them. Rose red was the first painting that made my brush painting teacher silent. She usually went at my work with orange ink correcting it. But that one she left alone. I was very excited and confused. It has a lot of sentimental value for that reason.

"I have trouble accessing my emotions and artists have to. I didn't realize that peacock painting was a portrait of my father for about two years, until I...."

But I think that's how artists do access their emotions; they create art in order to bring things to the surface so they can know what they really feel. That you didn't recognize the peacock for a little while only means that you were working pretty darn deep.

I agree, it was pretty deep. But just how deep can a pretty picture of a bird be? Something in my ENTJ brain has a hard time taking my own work seriously. It made me go to pottery, because you make things people use. I haven't made things to sell for people to use for years, now. But I still think of myself as a potter.

When does this go away?

i wonder if I tried to write a narrative for some of my paintings that I really love...would it mean anything? I suppose some of them are just pretty pictures. But some of them make me cry. I have always wondered what they make others feel.

I wouldn't worry about it... but then I'm an INFP (although as the day goes on the I shifts a bit toward E), and with an emphasis on the N and the P.

Being a potter is nothing to apologize for. It's elemental. You're working with clay. Earth. And you're at least a triple Virgo... so the Earth is going to have something to say to you about your life. Or maybe it's going to help you say what you need to say about your life. I'm not always sure which way those kinds of equations flow.

(There was no Earth in my chart, until I learned about Chiron ...and I used to wonder what I could do about that. Not much... but I do have a few people in my life with more than enough Earth to share.)

I would love to read narratives of some of your other work-- in any medium-- and I'm sure that others here would, too. And if we all cry... well, so be it.

I like "Busted" becasue I think that it expresses your emotional intent very well, using color and shape and line effectively to the purpose. But I think all of them have a good deal of merit. You wrong yourself by saying you are not a painter.

Autumn Harvest - but only if I can just say that I like it and not have to write an essay on things I know nothing about, I just like it.

I am fine with all that. Just likin' it is fine.

Each one has a favorite now.

I am sentimentally attached to Rose red.
Busted is on a piece of pottery, making it really hard to do.
Hot and Humid is a companion to Autumn, an exercise to try and get a different feeling from the same subject using color values.

The main thing in it was to make the ones in hot and humid look firm and growing still, and the ones in Autumn about to burst from their own pressure.

Pomegranates are almost always what I paint when I am thinking of my mother. They seem totally exotic to me, but they were growing in our yard. She never listened to people who told her things would never grow in that soil or other such speculation. She believed in trying it. Sometimes it worked out, other times, not so much. But then she knew.

They also remind me of Persephone.
And Adam and Eve, some people think this was the fruit of the tree of knowledge.

An ancestor of mine---a guy named Arthur Wesley Dow--taught art 100 years or so ago. He was one of the first westerners to bring the Japanese influence back to the states. He talked about a Japanese concept called "Notan"---filling a space with beauty. And when I see these fine works I'm remined of that.

I like Autumn Harvest for the muted color values. Having spent time in Taiwan and Mainland China, I appreciate them all.

Very difficult to choose. They all have a certain excitement.
But I pick Rose-red for the brushwork; alive, for-the-moment and spontaneous.

My dear Mademoiselle Priddy ~

These are very lovely paintings done in the Onna-e Japanese aesthetic. All are excellent, but my favorites are Rose Red and Busted for their looser line.

For me, Salon is an online version of the kind of life I left behind in the big city of Raleigh.

Here in the hinterlands, the average household income is 26,000 for a family of 4, making education beyond high school about impossible.

We moved here because of myhusbands's job, he works for a marine research station of Duke U. But the local flavor is pure country, backwoods even. they call it Downeast here but they were called rednecks where I was from. A red neck comes from farming all day, by the way. Downeast means so far outside regular society that the culture and language change as you get that far down east.

Salon is a respite for an over-educated artist living in the wild. The idea of a discussion about japanese versus chinese brush painting and people who have travelled enough to know the difference...wow. Thank you.

I am not a snob about my local area. When I lived in Raleigh, I longed to know people who worked for a living. I like balance in my life. And here, there is very little balance. Everybody works for a living.

There are people here who can discuss it, but they retired to here and do not want to discuss much, just relax. That part of their lives are over, and for those whom it is not, they already have friends that they go "off" to see and chat with in museums.

And I have a little boy now who takes a remarkable amount of time to raise. I am household bound for another year and then I can be a little free-er. It is a welcome trade-off. But like all things, a trade-off.

Onna -e, indeed. I had to look it up. I think that is very appropriate. My view and influences have been internal to my home and kitchen for several years now. And it has made my artistic perspective turn inward. And that is a fine thing. It will be a meaningful piece of the puzzle when I look back on it.

I have seen it as an R&D time, workwise. I am developing things that will be made into objects and works once I recover 6 hours a day to my self. And that time is coming soon. So I have to work quick.


My early work was all about technique.
My young work was about influences.
My middle work was about making money.
My current work is about an internal vision of life.

Things go toward the esoteric and then come home again.
My upcoming work is about innovation in technique.
I can't wait.

What Roger Wright said. I had an Aunt Freddy who traveled the world and loved all things oriental. She left me a few breathtaking hand painted works because she'd taught me about "Notan"--- and said whenever I visited I filled her home with beauty so she was returning the favor. You are a seriously gifted artist. From head, gut, heart to hand. Wow. You do us all a favor.

Glad I don't have to explain my choice. I really can't , I just don't have the vocabulary (I'm an engineer, my wife's the art major), so I just appreciate.

But I will add that my having a favorite doesn't mean I don't care for the others. They each in their own way have a calm beauty that just kind of draws me in.

Love these - I was immediately drawn to "Busted" and "Hot and Humid". I"m not really sure why - something internal just clicked. Picking one over the other would be like favoring yin over yang. They feel like they go together.

and, Hurray for ENTJs!

"When does this go away?" It doesn't. It's what defines being an artist.

Salon is a respite from...

Absolutely! I feel so blessed to be here!! I live in an area much like yours. It has it charms, but I need some mental stimulation -- thank you all for that!

john: you don't need to be able to explain. Art HAS to work on many levels. Simple beauty is not required in a lot of contemporary art, but it is in mine. It makes me happy to know that they bring a calm to your day.

lalucas: I tried really hard to find a group that would and could talk in real life. What I found was a gallery that bled me like a leech and that I eventually just had to abandon. There was only talk of business, no talk of art. And the art at the place showed it. The name Salon was what drew me to Salon in the first place, because of the Paris and New York Salons.

Sandra: they were painted at about the same time. One is on rice paper and theother on a clay tile.
Are you an ENTJ ? They are rare and weird. You would claim it in the open?!

I like them all, but Hot & Humid struck me the strongest on first viewing. I have become a color freak in recent years. I feel like some sort of bird that cannot resist snatching colored objects for her nest. So the most brightly colored of your work is my first choice. But I sincerely like them all and I am grateful that you shared them with us. My eyes thank you ;)

I like rose red and autumn harvest the best. Rose red, because I like the way one is forward and the other is behind- the space of it is nice, and the color is striking and the composition is sort of offering it to the viewer
The harvest one I like the layers, especially in the bottom leaf- it's as if you are seeing it move- and the colors in that one are the most pleasing to me, you got them subtle without muddy, which is hard