Summer Atlas Part 4
This is the last in the series Summer Atlas. It’s only been four weeks since the Equinox when we said goodby to summer. Do you notice time accelerating at this time of year? Summer now lives on in these paintings. I intended to extend some summer spaciousness to you in this art. One recurring image in these collages is the grid. It occurred to me that using this structure is influenced by the computer. Things are neatly and logically formatted by pixels – we are pixelated. Visually the grid represents latitude, longitude and maps. This grounds me to a single place in time and space. What I am mapping is an interior landscape, by bringing into form things sensed but not seen.
“Summer Study 2″, 9×12”, watercolor, drawing, collage by Kathleen O’Brien
“Summer Study 2” was inspired by “Summer Study 1” because I couldn’t help myself wanting to “capture” my beloved flowers for memories’ sake, I’ve accepted their ephemeral nature. The grid surrounding the bouquet are all the colors I see in my floral gardens.
“Summer Study 3″, 9×12”, watercolor, drawing, collage by Kathleen O’Brien
Spending time in the hammock and swimming in a salt water pool most of the summer saved my knees! So much of my view was the ultra-cobalt sky, a soothing color that counterbalances the heat. One upon a time, for several years, I oil painted skies. I wanted to get back to that, but through watercolor. The sky and water were orienting me in my body – above me, below me all around me. So “Summer Study 3” began with painting a sky and one single bird I watched from a floating position. Vintage atlas cut-outs of map locations with shorelines, places I have lived, visited or long to be formed the grid.
“Maps to Art Farms”, 9×12″, watercolor, drawing, petals, collage by Kathleen O’Brien
“Maps to Art Farms” is a prelude to a future blog series about amazing creatives I know who are developing their land as an agrarian lifestyle. On the map sections see if you know about any of these paradises. I’ve already visited a few and started my photo files. I’m not sure when I will start the series, so stay tuned.
“Summer Atlas 1″, 9×6”, watercolor, drawing, mica, map, collage by Kathleen O’Brien
The final three artworks, “Summer Atlas 1, 2 and 3” were created as way to visit some of my most beloved places, in imagination if not in fact.
So now onto Autumn. We’ve been in Indian summer, so I need to remind myself about transitions. I’ve already begun the first large piece for Autumn Atlas. Here’s a picture of Talisman for Transitions.
“Talisman for Transitions”, ancient, antique, vintage, handmade bead necklace by Kathleen O’Brien
“Summer Atlas 2″, 9×6”, watercolor, drawing, mica, map, collage by Kathleen O’Brien
“Summer Atlas 3″, 9×6”, watercolor, drawing, mica, map, collage by Kathleen O’Brien