Oct 12, 2012

Rise

18x36" original oil
sold

A few months ago I started thinking about doing another seascape. I don't do them often, so when I do, I am excited to share them. This painting, Rise, is a lot like the seascape Dawn I did a few years ago. It has that same pink and blue going on, which I didn't even mean to do...it's just the way the painting happened. The sky actually started out a dark yellow. Some of it still shows through in places which I like. I had zero plan for this seascape. I started with a horizon, some leftover paint on my palette, and some rags to push paint around. Four or five sessions in, I still wasn't sure which way on the painting was up. It was morphing. I love seeing these seascapes breathe to life each time I work on them.

My seascape titles are always philosophical. The idea behind the title of Rise is the concept of cycles and new beginnings, like the dawn of a new day. Sunrises and sunsets are great in seascapes, and also great life metaphors, so they pop up a lot in my artwork. Today, in my current mindset, I think it's interesting to evaluate where I am in life based on what I have failed at yet tried again. Think about it in your life: what cycles have you gone through and where are you now? I love new beginnings. Some of my favorite song lyrics come from the band Semisonic and the song "Closing Time" and they are: Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end. 

These seascapes really are best up close, so here are some details:

1 comment:

Sunny said...

It's fun to look at your paintings through the years and see trends which probably correspond to what your feeling and experiencing. I know the artist mind enough to pick up on a few things. When Derek was in college almost all of his art had to do with change and evolving and making his way through the dark into light, reaching for something higher which was exactly what he was doing at that point. It's fun to note that when you started it was all over the place, you painted everything then you settled down to flowers then more specifically the tulip with it's simplicity yet they were solitary tulips. And now they are wonderful cheery groups of tulips with little buds of potential. Your thoughts on the seascapes are interesting too. Have I mentioned lately that I love your artwork? :)