Passions of an Odd Chick

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Autumn Scene

mixed-media collage on large canvas
 
Autumn Scene
Upon the hills the giant trees with color were ablaze,
Like smoke from smouldering embers rose the late September haze.
All silent and magnificent I fancied I could see
The Master Artist touching up some solitary tree,
But the glory of the landscape was a flash of crimson flame
At the bottom of the picture where the painter signs his name.

Now I cannot speak the language of the men who paint and draw.
And with technical precision can't describe the scene I saw.
All I know is that a picture was unrolled for me to see,
And the high lights and the shadows just what they ought to be,
But that gorgeous burst of color
in the foreground caught my eye
And I knew it made the landscape,
though I couldn't say just why.

It struck me as peculiar, where an earthly painter signs;
The Master Artist signed His name in tangled shrubs and vines.
And as I stepped up closer
I discovered and was glad
He had given that touch of splendor to the poorest stuff He had.
To the common things in summer
Which man scarecely sees at all
He had given the place of honor and the glory of the fall.
                                                                                - edgar a. guest

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

The Glorious Giraffe.

"The Glorious Giraffe" Original Acrylic on wrapped canvas 30x40
prints and cards available upon request.

Oh good and glorious giraffe,
I'd like to speak in your behalf.
It's clear that there are very few
Who decorate the world like you.
                             - Johannes Eff, 1969

It seems I am working my way through the animal kingdom. I have to admit that giraffes are a favorite of mine. Their inexplicable oddness and their sweetness combine to win you over completely, along with their kind gentleness and sweeping eyelashes. You never hear of anyone being killed by a giraffe. They have huge hearts to raise and lower that neck so quickly. And they are graceful and dignified despite the fact that their build is so strangely unbalanced. 

"It was as if his hide had been in two layers, one creamy and pale, the other crisp and reddish brown. Maybe the dark upper layer had been to fragile for the equatorial heat. It had cracked into blocks, like the glaze on the Chinese pottery."   -Gladys Schmitt in "Consider the Giraffe"

I was forever changed once I saw a free giraffe move across the landscape in Africa in 2007. I've sketched them for years.
It was important to me to get this painting right and it owns a piece of my soul.

"It was really rather eerie; one got the same sense of unreality one would get- the same shock- if one suddenly saw a tree uproot itself and drift across the landscape."  -Gerald Durrell, zoo keeper