Friday, January 27, 2017

Leaning Towards the Light


“Leaning Towards the Light”        Pastel        9” x 12”        $100     ©Sharon Lewis
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            It’s a beautiful, sunny day in Atlanta and I found myself rejecting the painting I had just finished in favor of this much sunnier one. It’s that time of year when I’m noticing that the days are getting gradually longer but it feels like such an excruciatingly slow process that I get impatient. Fortunately, I can choose to paint the longer, sunnier days of spring and remember walking a sandy shore with the sun on my face, beautiful clouds overhead, and the wonderfully rhythmic sounds of the waves in my ears. Ahhhh.
            Happy Weekend!

Friday, January 20, 2017

Stormy Weather


“Stormy Weather”      Pastel       5” x 7”        $50     © Sharon Lewis
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            The sky has looked like this often this week and given the political atmosphere today, it seems an appropriate painting.
            Today, in searching for wisdom to help me navigate these stormy times, I remembered an essay by John Lewis in which he describes a terrible storm he experienced as a child. He and his young cousins were frightened because the small house where they were, was beginning to lift off its foundation. His Aunt Seneva told the children to gather hands, move toward the corner that was rising, and together they held the house down. He recalls the many storms of the civil rights movement when people of conscience stayed, joined hands and moved to the corner of the house that was the weakest. He says in what seem prophetic words today, “But we knew another storm would come, and we would have to do it all over again. And we did. And we still do, all of us. You and I. Children holding hands, walking with the wind. That is America to me----not just the movement for civil rights but the endless struggle to respond with decency, dignity, and a sense of brotherhood to all the challenges that face us as a nation, as a whole.” *
 *From: “Walking with the Wind” In “The Impossible Will Take A Little While

Friday, January 13, 2017

Memories of Color


“Memories of Color”     Pastel        9” x 12”        $100    © Sharon Lewis
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It’s been a hectic week with classes starting up again. I’ve enjoyed meeting the newcomers to my classes and welcoming back my returning students. I have such optimism about our nation’s future when I think about these young, idealistic adults.
This painting represents my desire to focus on color when all I can see out of my studio window are lots of brown and greys. So, as I choose to focus on the bright future represented by my wonderful students, I also choose to focus on the warm colors of a beautiful fall day in the park.
Happy Weekend!

Thursday, January 5, 2017

Lyrical Limbs


“Lyrical Limbs”      Oil       3” x 2” on Canvas    $100       © Sharon Lewis
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            I’ve been experimenting with painting with oils, a medium I’ve always been fascinated by even if my first love is the medium of pastels. I have been playing with water-mixable oils because I can avoid the odor and potential health hazards of using the medium in its more typical form. For some reason I had several small canvasses and so I have been creating a small oil painting after work for each of the last three nights. I have been wanting to paint this tree for some time. It seems indomitable, standing as it does on a coastal ridge but also has a lyrical or beautiful, expressive quality to it. On to more small oils…..
            Happy Almost Weekend!