A Time of Light and New Beginnings

“New Life”     2.5” x 3.5”    Pastel   $25      © Sharon Lewis
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            Mother Nature sure seems to love messing with us lately. Just when we settle into the idea that spring is really here to stay, since the beautiful blooming trees and flowers seem to attest to this, it get’s cold again.

            Oh well, no matter what the weather, Easter finally occurs this weekend (and it’s the middle of Passover). It’s interesting to me that the two holidays seem to center on hope, remembrance, and renewal of faith, and both occur in early spring. Upon conducting some online research, I found out that “Easter” comes from the name for a pagan goddess, Eostre (Old English) or Ostara (Old High German), who derived her name from a Proto-Indo-European goddess of the dawn.  Somehow, this association with light, new beginnings, renewal and spring, makes this a particularly joyful holiday for me. Although I’m not religious I think holiday rituals are wonderful when they allow us to transcend the ordinary patterns of our lives. They can help us reflect on what we hold sacred, what we believe, and maybe all of those things and people in our lives for which we are grateful.

            Today’s painting is based on photos taken near the Mount Washington area in New Hampshire. We were hiking through the woods and along a stream when I found unexpected beauty poking up from amongst the weeds along a path; new life in the form of these beautiful daisies.          

           Happy Easter, Chag Sameach, Happy Spring and Happy Weekend to all!

Into the Distance

"Into the Distance"       8” x 10”    Pastel      $75    © Sharon Lewis
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            It was a beautiful, sunny and breezy, spring day in Palm Coast, Florida, a city on the east coast, south of Jacksonville. We had gone for a long walk on the beach and seen some really funny looking birds that looked like they had bad mullet hair cuts (are there good mullets?). I looked them up in my bird book and discovered they were not gulls as I originally thought but sandwich terns. There were also some really cute smaller birds with skinny legs that I think are snowy plovers. That day I was also lucky to catch a beautiful setting sun behind me reflecting on the clouds in front of me. This painting shows the reflected light on the clouds and the flight of two terns with bad hair cuts heading into the distance.

            Happy Weekend!

Changing Reality: Along the Water’s Edge

“Along the Water’s Edge“        5” x 7”     Pastel       $50       © Sharon Lewis
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            Today’s painting is a slightly different version of a scene I have painted before, on a very different surface.  The painting is based on a photo I took from a moving car…. not usually the best photo to use as a reference. However sometimes, it forces you to use more of your creative skills because you have no choice. In this case, I was working from a pretty boring, blurry photo of an almost all green scene. So, I added orange, pink, and blues to the painting to spice it up a bit.

            When you take photos under these circumstances, you also don’t have time to compose it attractively either, so once again, I needed to think creatively how I might re-design this scene to be a little more interesting.  The first time I painted this scene I did a close-up of the trees. In this one I decided to add a path leading you to the trees and water. I want the viewer to maybe imagine having a picnic along the water’s edge in the shade of one of these trees. 

              

            Enjoy and Happy Weekend!

What Happens When You Head North From Maine?

“Tidal River”     8” x 10”     Pastel     $75     ©Sharon Lewis
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            Well, you might believe that you fall into the ocean if you grew up with those oddly inaccurate maps that show everything ending at the border of the United States. However, northeast of the state of Maine is the Canadian province of New Brunswick. It has two official languages, English and French and the Bay of Fundy in the south, which is cool because it has some of the highest tides in the world (52 feet).
            Today’s painting is based on photos of marshes I took when we visited here one summer. I painted this last week when I felt a real need for color and warmth. I hope wherever you are, that spring has come at last.
Happy Weekend!

The Vernal Equinox: The First Day of Spring!!!

“Spring Gifts”    9” x 12”     Pastel     $100     © Sharon Lewis
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            Ahhhhh, the first day of spring! Given the recent snowfalls around the country, it may be hard to believe but today is the vernal equinox, the official first day of spring. I looked up the meaning of this term and found a bit more information than I think I needed to know.  I won’t bore you with everything I found but I did find that my years of Latin in high school did not go to waste. I thought the term derived from Latin and found that I was right. “Vernal” comes from the Latin derivative  “ver” meaning spring and equinox derives from “aequus” meaning equal and “nox” meaning night. So the term suggests as I had always thought, that this is one of the times of the year when there are equal hours of daylight and night. Apparently, this is not precisely true but for me it’s close enough.
            I am just happy to see the increased hours of daylight and all of the flowers that are blooming as well as the flowering trees and bushes. I have daffodils and hyacinths blooming in my yard but no tulips this year. I planted tons of them several years ago but I gave up after battling the squirrels who dug them up as soon as I planted them and the deer that apparently find them tasty (Is there any plant that they don’t eat? I keep hoping that I’ll come out one day to find that the deer have conveniently removed all the weeds from my lawn and flower beds but apparently they don’t like my weeds anymore than I do.) So, instead, I try to find tulips at the grocery store and paint them from time to time. My painting of them is a poor substitute for the real thing but these require no weeding and so far I’ve been able to keep the deer and squirrels away.
            Happy Spring!

Only Memories of Snow

“Cardinal in the Snow”    8” x 10”   Pastel    $75   © Sharon Lewis
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            It’s a beautiful, spring day in the Atlanta area. I had plenty of time to remind myself to be grateful for this weather as I sat in Atlanta traffic for two hours this afternoon. At least if the major highway I was on had turned into a parking lot I had great views of all of the blooming trees and bushes. I saw white fluffy pear trees, purplish-pink tulip trees (which I found out are really a type of magnolia tree), and beautiful, pink, flowering cherry trees. These colors are so welcome against the backdrop of grays and browns that are the holdovers of winter. It reminded me of this cardinal I photographed against the grey, purple and brown background of winter. It provided such a cheerful, colorful sight that I had to paint him !
            I hope wherever you are, that you are enjoying the beginnings of spring.

            Happy Weekend!
   

Do These Feathers Make Me Look Fat?

“Do These Feathers Make Me Look Fat?”   6” x 6”   Pastel    $40    © Sharon Lewis
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            Today’s painting is of a goldfinch that has fluffed up its feathers so that it looks three times its normal size. At first I thought it was a fledgling since they often have this kind of cute, roly-poly look, but I think it’s simply an adult trying to retain some body heat on a very cold day. I based the painting on photos I took during our last snow and ice storm when the birds were almost continually flying from a nearby bush to my window-mounted feeder.

            To me the goldfinch, with its sunny, yellow feathers is an especially beautiful bird to see on a gray, wintry day. In addition they have such a cheerful song or call (click here to listen to one)

            I’ve noticed that even though goldfinches are supposedly territorial only during nest construction, they are one of the few species that don’t share nicely at the feeder. In spite of the fact that they are typically one of the more slender birds, they squawk and peck away almost all of the other birds. This one though is just plain adorable!

Enjoy and have a happy weekend!