Through The Glass

"People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out,

but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within."

~Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

"Through The Glass", 2008, oil on panel, 24"x18" is another painting about reflection, literal and metaphorical. I knew that this painting would be technically challenging when I took the reference shots. I do love how materials abstract objects and people, and surely this can be pondered from a psychological perspective as well.

 This painting, like the shower curtain paintings, has a lot of subtle warping and in it. I thought that the contrast between the broken colours of the window would play well off of the flatter surrounding walls. It is hard to paint something that is distorted and yet still retains a semblance of the object or person. I do not envy artists who do caricatures. What a challenge! 

There is a degree of ambiguity in the piece. As usual I do not like to provide answers in my work but would rather the viewer supply their own narrative. I have had some people comment on how peaceful she looks while others think it a more somber piece. Some have even said it is eerie. Whatever the interpretation, I had really enjoyed painting it...but it is a slower process than my usual way of applying paint. I have to work in a much more isolated way and I constantly blur my vision to see how the colours blend together.

On a side note, I do think that how you feel about a painting while working on it affects its final success. I think that we have a great amount of energy within ourselves and some of that energy is left behind in the paint, within the piece of music, between the lines of a book that is lovingly created. Surely our best, or at least our most satisfying work is work that contains a bit of ourselves in the process of making it come to life. There is nothing more satisfying.  

"To live in this world

you must be able

to do three things:

to love what is mortal;

to hold it

against your bones knowing

your own life depends on it;

and, when the time comes to let it go,

to let it go."

~Mary Oliver, Excerpt from In Blackwater Woods

Have a beautiful day and remember to glorify every moment,

Heather

P.S. A beautiful song that I have been listening to a lot lately is "How It Ends" by Devotchka.