Summer Marigolds Repeated

Marigold Magnified, 5x7" Oil on canvas ©2008, Helen Read 

 

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In honor of summer and this prolific flower that decorates so many gardens, I painted this a few years ago. I am now planting my garden again, so this seemed appropriate! The intensity of the color and its distinctive smell are reminders of the hot weather that will come!

I will worship

Worship I, from the series
©Helen Read
acrylic and mixed media

This piece is a complete abstraction - showing a completely abstract concept.... worship. My idea here was to start with no preconceived idea - but let my hands and the media be an act of worship in a completely non-verbal language.

I believe that the Lord God is the master artist.... just look at the world in which we live! Look at the sky, the arrangement of clouds, color, stars, and moon! Look at a field bursting forth with life at the end of the winter. Look at the clothing of burning autumn color on trees and bushes that were very recently a hundred tones of green! Not only is creation visually a work of art - it is also a work of art systematically and conceptually. From His hands have flowed all of creation and from His hands all is sustained! From the mysterious gravitational pull in our universe down to the forces that keep the tiniest atomic structure in place. From His hands the colors of light are painted across the sky and dappled across my front lawn. From His hands each dew drop clings to the blades of grass and sparkles in the sunlight - containing a tiny reflection of the world around it, when one looks closely. When we look deeply and take time to consider the world we take for granted - it is far greater than amazing!

My offering of worship is comparably very small - and yet, it is acceptable. That's the great thing about the Lord; He is a God of great and unmeasurable love, and he accepts our worship when we put it forth with a sincere heart.

Spring!

Spring Arrives, 10 x 8" Acrylic on canvas

©Helen Read, 2010

 

I've been a little technologically hampered this week. Because of switching my phone service to which my internet service has been tied, everything is not working! Its been days, and many phone calls, and hours of working with the provider via cell phone.... all to very little avail!

Nevertheless, I press on!! And, hope springs eternal .... I continue to hope my internet will be working today or tomorrow. You may wonder how I've been able to post with this problem - and to that I say, "necessity is the mother of invention". I'm carrying flash drives between my home computer and another computer to make posts - but it is VERY cumbersome!

Enough about that .... this little abstract painting may take you by surprise, if you watch the genre of my work on any regular basis. However, abstraction is not a new genre for me. Some things are much better expressed this way! Abstraction is not an easy way to express one's thoughts - even though the work is not organized into a realistic or even, perhaps, recognizable format, still - the work must contain a combination of the elements and principles of art, done well. This is always a quest for me - and it makes me into a more thoughtful and intentional artist.

This work is a celebration of the arrival of spring! It is an outflow of my emotions after a long, and almost interminable winter season! It is meant to be an explosion of color and if you look deeply, you will see layer upon layer of color and shape and repetition.

Green Fringe

Green Fringe, 8 x 5" mixed media on paper ©2010, Helen Read  

 

This small painting, is about the only one I was able to get out of my studio this month! This small flower (quite green) was given to me in a larger bouquet.

The month of April had some unexpected events ~ the older I get, the more uncertainty I notice in life. On April 1st, I got a phone call from my parents who live about 1100 miles away. My dad spoke to me, telling me he had had a heart attack during the night before. He was calling me from the hospital. Though this was serious news, he sounded strong and positive. Of course, I kept in touch by phone, and it sounded as if he was improving and in fact, he was released to return home on Easter Sunday. That evening, he had a similar, although worse heart attack in the night, again being hospitalized. At that time it became evident that I needed to go to TX. I made my reservations, and then though there was no real worsening of his condition, a day later I changed my reservations to go the next day. This meant frantic work on my end, writing lesson plans for a week and arranging a substitute teacher, and getting things ready to go at home. Unexpectedly, during that night before I got there, he had a final heart attack and passed away very peacefully. Thus began the month of April and an unexpected trip to TX in the spring time, a gathering of dear family and friends, and saying a final, earthly good bye to my dad. In spite of the reasons for being together, it was a wonderful time of celebration, really. Remembering my dad and his funny personality, recalling the many ways he touched the lives of those around him, and the piece that spoke the most reassurance, celebrating his strong and certain faith in Jesus Christ, his Savior. His was a full and rich life - from being a WW2 veteran, to his life career working in various capacities with young people as a leader and educator, to working in various capacities of leadership in his church. But, its not a life about all the things he did that gives us a sense of peace and hope - it is that he placed his simple trust in Jesus as his Savior. That's something that takes no special talent - only a heart that believes. So as we said good bye, there were tears - of course - but more that that, there was joy. For those of us who have believed the words of the Bible, that Jesus is our redeemer and the lover of our souls, we will be reunited beyond this temporal life. That is a reason for more joy than sorrow.

A work in progress ~ hostas in sun and shadow

Sunlit Leaf, 8x8" oil on canvas
©2010, Helen Read

This may look a little familiar - I'm working with a previous painting and adding it to a new and larger painting. The original painting, Sunlit Leaf, seen on top above is now part of a 16 x 20" painting on Ampersand Board of hosta plants.

My idea for this is that the hosta leaves will all be in shadow and pushed back (literally and in terms of color and value). The one sunlit leaf is on a protruding canvas and is the only one in bright tones and values. My hope is that it will evoke a sense of 3 dimensionality and sun penetrating the leaf that is closest to the viewer. The difference in color between the photos above have to do with low lighting in the lower 2. The top one is an accurate representation of the work, having been scanned.

Its a grand experiment! I hope it will end up as I envision it! We shall see! I'll continue to work and show you as I go!

studio_upstairs@hotmail.com

Last Few Days! Spring Special - floral Note cards

Floral Note Card Set - 8 cards/envelopes, 4 designs (featuring my original art works) 

Old Favorites - Yellow Halo

Yellow Halo, 7.5 x 11" watercolor on paper ©2008, Helen C Read 

 

This one was fun to work with! There was much going on with light and shadow, color and shape. I don't work in watercolor as much as I work in oil, but it is fun to spread paint differently with watercolor!

Coneflowers - old favorites

Several more old favorites

Leaves in abstract

Curvature, 12.75 x 9.75" Colored pencil on black drawing paper
ready to mat and frame
©2010, Helen Read


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This drawing simply explores the abstraction that is so often seen within natural forms. But, as the artist, I also took a few liberties with color, lending a greater sense of abstraction. Shapes made to look like forms, colors, values .... many elements come into play with this drawing.

The Nests - a set of old favorites

Nest Series: top - Nest Eggs 9 x 12" Oil on canvas bottom left - Empty Nest 1, 6x6" Oil on canvas bottom right - Empty Nest 2, 6x6" Oil on canvas This set of 3 is representative to me of my own 3 children - who populated my nest, now growing up and leaving the nest behind. Its an interesting passage as a parent. Not altogether easy... and yet, it is the way it should be. My nest has been very brightly occupied for many years - now that my kids are flying ~ for several a great distance from home ~ I am learning to appreciate the remembrances of their time under my roof! I love them deeply - and am proud of their accomplishments and the way in which they are now contributing to the world in which we live! So, as a parent of an "empty-ish" nest, I am blessed by those old memories and also blessed by their new endeavors and will be blessed by the memories that are yet to be made! 

An Old Favorite - Strawberry Bowl

Strawberry Bowl, 6x6" Oil on canvas ©2008, Helen Read  

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Another old Favorite - November Gathering

November Gathering, 8x8" Oil on canvas ©2007, Helen Read

I know it is spring! The colors here aren't far off of spring, however - this is really a fall painting! Nevertheless, it is still an old favorite!

Easter - the day all of history was changed!

From heaven to earth, to show the way

From earth to the cross, my debt to pay.
From the cross to the grave -

From the grave to the sky,
Lord, I praise your name on high!
(Music and Lyrics by Rick Founds)

Easter, the day a death blow was dealt to eternal death!
All of us are born captive to the grip of
eternal death - a forever separation between us and a loving Creator.
He took on himself the responsibility to free us from an enemy that
we are powerless to defeat. He came for us as our great rescuer -
trading his life for ours!
He defeated the power of death by returning to LIFE on the 3rd day,
paving the way by means of a free gift - to be reconciled forever to Him!
What amazing favor - what amazing love!

John 3:16 - For God so loved the world, that he sent his only son,
so that anyone who believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

The two images above are a drawing made in perspective of the cross - graphite on mylar. The image below is a multi-media expression of the moment of resurrection. Imagine the incredible power of God - having put death to death - accompanied by an earthquake, he stepped back into life. In my mind, I see - perhaps happening within milliseconds of time - the darkness of night and the inner tomb is shattered by dazzling light as the full glory of God is brought forth in full and resurrected life! Its more amazing than my ability to describe! And its personal - his life and death and resurrection - was accomplished for me! That's love indescribable!!

Undulation 3

Undulation 3, 10 x 8" Oil on canvas ©2010, Helen Read

  

Once again, I've taken the twists and turns of a Hosta leaf and created an abstraction from what I see in nature. Its always very intriguing to find how wonderful abstract our natural world can be! This is one of a series of works in this style and subject matter.