Summer Memories II

“Summer Memories II”       2.5” x 3.5”         Pastel        $26.25       © Sharon Lewis
Click Here to Purchase

            I’m ready for the cooler temperatures of fall but still holding onto the memories of the long days of light I enjoy in summer. I’m remembering looking out over the many blues and greens of  the sea against the background of fluffy clouds and a beautiful, blue sky. Ah, the end of summer and the beginning of fall is always bittersweet.

            Happy Weekend!

 

Summer Memories

“Summer Memories”        2.5” x 3.5”         Pastel        $26.25       © Sharon Lewis

Click Here to Purchase

             Like many of my friends I have mixed feelings about Labor Day. I appreciate that it’s a holiday for most people but it also marks the end of summer. Although I love that fall will bring cooler temperatures and less humidity (eventually), I will miss the long days of light we enjoy during summer. Summer also gives us spectacular displays of clouds which I love. Yes, clear blue skies can be nice but for someone who loves painting interesting skies, I’ll take some huge clouds any day.

            Happy Weekend and Happy Labor Day!

 

Return of Blue Skies

“Return of Blue Skies”              Pastel             5” x 7”       $50    © Sharon Lewis
Click Here to Purchase

            For all of my family and friends in the path of Hurricane Irma, my thoughts are with you and here’s hoping that blue skies return soon.

Lissome Lilac

“Lissome Lilac”          Pastel      12” x 9”       $100       © Sharon Lewis
Click Here to Purchase

                  For the last few summers, once the beautiful spring weather has vanished and the heat and humidity of Georgia have arrived, we flee up north to the coast of southern Maine for a brief stay. Here, we enjoy my idea of perfect summer days: cool nights and mornings and long days filled with light. One of the first things I do is to visit the beautiful lilac bush in the back yard and cut a few branches to bring into the house. The whole time we’re there, they fill the kitchen with this sweet fragrance. One day, the light was shining perfectly on this vase and it looked to me like the lilac had struck a graceful pose. It was so much fun to paint this symbol of summer in the middle of winter.

                  Happy Weekend!

Safe Harbor

“Safe Harbor”          Pastel          9” x 12”        $100           © Sharon Lewis
Click Here to Purchase

         I look at this painting and remember the end of a beautiful, relaxing day of hiking and painting in Maine. It helps me to remember sometimes, in the midst of my mad rush to complete one work task after another, to take a deep breath and look up and around. There’s always something in nature that makes me smile, makes me curious, or look in awe.  The natural world helps me regain perspective, to remember what’s really important at the end of the day. Here’s to good friends, the beauty and wonder of nature, and a happy weekend!

 

Out to Sea

“Out to Sea”    Pastel     5” x 7”     $50     © Sharon Lewis
Click Here to Purchase

            I’m back from beautiful Bailey Island, Maine where we had mostly wonderful weather and mostly terrible internet connections. Normally, I wouldn’t have really cared about the internet but I had big plans to paint daily or as often as possible and post daily. Unfortunately, I only managed to post once because we kept losing our connection altogether.

            Nonetheless, I got to enjoy cool (and sometimes cold) morning and evening breezes, hiking through the woods and along the rocky coast, and falling asleep to the sound of the waves. I also got to paint every day, usually outside. My biggest problem was selecting which beautiful view to tackle for a painting.  I’ll be posting some of these over the next few weeks.

            Have a happy holiday weekend!

First Light

“First Light”       9” x 12”      Pastel      $100       © Sharon Lewis
Click Here to Purchase

            Every summer for the last several years, we have been lucky enough to spend a week in June on Bailey Island, Maine. For reasons that remain mysterious to me, I, a very definite non-morning person, always wake up at first light. And I love doing this! Maybe it’s because that first light occurs in June during a time that most people would call night (around 4 AM) but for whatever the reason, this first light is just absolutely gorgeous! I have taken quite literally hundreds of photos of this time (during which time I have sometimes been bitten by what feels like a hundred mosquitoes) because you see beautiful colors that you don’t see any other time. In addition, each “first light” is different from all of the others. The sky presents itself as a unique and dazzling masterpiece each morning. What a gift!

Winds Up!

“Winds Up!”          9” x 12”          Pastel         $100          © Sharon Lewis
Click Here to Purchase

             Ah, the carefree days of summer! I remember as a kid roaming the shore looking for hermit crabs, shells, worms (for fishing), or anything interesting that a storm might have brought in. One of these storms brought in a huge tree and laid it on its side a few feet from shore. That tree became our ship and we became its sailors. Sometimes we were pirates and made someone walk the plank with imaginary sharks waiting below. Yes, we were a bloodthirsty bunch of kids with very vivid imaginations. These summer storms also brought us strong winds, perfect for flying kites as these two kids are doing.

            I hope you’re enjoying some carefree summer days.

Plein Air Painting in a Beautiful Place

Maine Cloud Studies                 2.5 x 3.5          Pastel            $20 each            © Sharon Lewis

            I am back in the heat, humidity of Atlanta with lots and lots of rain thrown in! Other than one night of rain, we were so lucky in Maine to have sunny and cool weather. It was ideal for painting plein air or on location. I didn’t have to go far and wasn’t exactly roughing it since from the deck of the house we were staying in I had a wonderful view of a beautiful sky with lots of clouds. I wanted to do a series of cloud paintings (one of my favorite things to paint) and since the clouds were changing so rapidly, I chose to do mini paintings, some of which I’ve posted here.

            I hope you are enjoying your summer wherever you are.

Oh, How I Will Miss That Great and Beautiful Voice!

“Close of Day”        9” x 12”         Pastel          $100        © Sharon Lewis
Click Here to Purchase

            It was a shock to hear that Maya Angelou had died this week. She somehow seemed a part of the fabric of our country, certainly of my life. I loved her voice, her poetry, and the wisdom of her words.

            The painting I’m posting today somehow seems to fit one of my favorite of Maya Angelou’s works. So, I’m sharing her poem, wishing you a relaxing weekend and missing one of the truly great women of our time.

The Rock Cries Out to Us Today

A Rock, A River, A Tree
Hosts to species long since departed,
Mark the mastodon.
The dinosaur, who left dry tokens
Of their sojourn here
On our planet floor,
Any broad alarm of their of their hastening doom
Is lost in the gloom of dust and ages.
But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully,
Come, you may stand upon my
Back and face your distant destiny,
But seek no haven in my shadow.
I will give you no hiding place down here.
You, created only a little lower than
The angels, have crouched too long in
The bruising darkness,
Have lain too long
Face down in ignorance.
Your mouths spelling words
Armed for slaughter.
The rock cries out today, you may stand on me,
But do not hide your face.
Across the wall of the world,
A river sings a beautiful song,
Come rest here by my side.
Each of you a bordered country,
Delicate and strangely made proud,
Yet thrusting perpetually under siege.
Your armed struggles for profit
Have left collars of waste upon
My shore, currents of debris upon my breast.
Yet, today I call you to my riverside,
If you will study war no more.
Come, clad in peace and I will sing the songs
The Creator gave to me when I
And the tree and stone were one.
Before cynicism was a bloody sear across your brow
And when you yet knew you still knew nothing.
The river sings and sings on.
There is a true yearning to respond to
The singing river and the wise rock.
So say the Asian, the Hispanic, the Jew,
The African and Native American, the Sioux,
The Catholic, the Muslim, the French, the Greek,
The Irish, the Rabbi, the Priest, the Sheikh,
The Gay, the Straight, the Preacher,
The privileged, the homeless, the teacher.
They hear. They all hear
The speaking of the tree.
Today, the first and last of every tree
Speaks to humankind. Come to me, here beside the river.
Plant yourself beside me, here beside the river.
Each of you, descendant of some passed on
Traveller, has been paid for.
You, who gave me my first name,
You Pawnee, Apache and Seneca,
You Cherokee Nation, who rested with me,
Then forced on bloody feet,
Left me to the employment of other seekers--
Desperate for gain, starving for gold.
You, the Turk, the Swede, the German, the Scot...
You the Ashanti, the Yoruba, the Kru,
Bought, sold, stolen, arriving on a nightmare
Praying for a dream.
Here, root yourselves beside me.
I am the tree planted by the river,
Which will not be moved.
I, the rock, I the river, I the tree
I am yours--your passages have been paid.
Lift up your faces, you have a piercing need
For this bright morning dawning for you.
History, despite its wrenching pain,
Cannot be unlived, and if faced with courage,
Need not be lived again.
Lift up your eyes upon
The day breaking for you.
Give birth again
To the dream.
Women, children, men,
Take it into the palms of your hands.
Mold it into the shape of your most
Private need. Sculpt it into
The image of your most public self.
Lift up your hearts.
Each new hour holds new chances
For new beginnings.
Do not be wedded forever
To fear, yoked eternally
To brutishness.
The horizon leans forward,
Offering you space to place new steps of change.
Here, on the pulse of this fine day
You may have the courage
To look up and out upon me,
The rock, the river, the tree, your country.
No less to Midas than the mendicant.
No less to you now than the mastodon then.
Here on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister's eyes,
Into your brother's face, your country
And say simply
Very simply
With hope
Good morning.
Maya Angelou