Earth, Wind, Fire: A Painting to Stimulate your Senses

Earth, Wind, Fire 24x30 Acrylic
Originally uploaded by sandiwhetzel

I am happy to report that this painting is hanging in the Coos Art Museum at present from April 26, 2008 through July 5, 2008 as part of the Expressions West 2008 Exhibit in Coos Bay, Oregon. Over 200 artists from the thirteen states of the western United States, including Alaska and Hawaii submitted over 400 painting images to be juried by Gary Faigin, the juror for the exhibit. Faigin is the Artistic Director and co-founder of Gage Academy of Art in Seattle. He is the monthly art critic on Seattle’s NPR station, KUOW. A retrospective of his paintings was presented at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle in July and August of 2001. Faigin selected 65 paintings by 60 artists to be included in the exhibit. I was very glad to be among the artists accepted into the show. You can tour the entire exhibit by visiting this link: http://www.coosart.org/expressions/expressions_entries_index2008.html

The inspiration for this painting came from a photo of a very washed out, almost entirely pale green wooded scene on flat ground. Because I admire the grandeur of gracefully leaning trees, I could see the opportunity to exaggerate the curves and colors and invent the curvy patterns in the barks to create my vision of a dramatic early evening scene. In a thumbnail sketch I arranged the trees and branches with exaggerated leaning curves and anchored them into rolling banks of earth. Then I decided to add the flaming sunset. The whole painting is about wondrous curves, luscious colors and movement; a painting to stimulate your senses. When I was done painting, the rolling earth, fiery sky and leaning trees said "Earth, Wind, Fire" to me.