Dance of Dissonance

framed

By 4 am I was exhausted. My head was tired, full of noise that made no sense. At my threshold I got up from bed and walked 10 feet to my studio, pulled out a piece of paper and began to paint. I removed some of the surface paper for texture, scratched paint with a toothpick and smeared paint with all my fingers until finally the noise ceased. 

In the painting you’ll see a face outlined in black – eyes, nose, lips. While the face is hot with red and orange, the dreadlocks hang in blue and black. On the outskirts, into the white is yellow and the tiniest flicker of green.  Continue reading “Dance of Dissonance”

Wish Falls Abstract Painting #7

Wish Falls Water Spring fma

Well, well, well. This is easier than I thought it would be and a lot more fun now that I’m really into it. At first I really struggled and stressed over the idea of pure abstract work. One has to let go, be free to do abstract. They have to let go of everything being in line and perfectly crafted with a big meaning behind it. I do that. I fill pages from edge to edge with details upon details. For me these paintings are ones where I’m holding on to control very tightly. It looks like organized chaos or as I like to say, chaos in color. The truth is, these works of art are so filled with images that I am bound to the painting, even obsessed at times. I love it, don’t get me wrong but there is a lot of holding on to control. With the abstracts I’m learning to let go a little. That’s the whole point of the 10 piece challenge, let go, don’t try to stay in control all of the time. It’ll kill ya, I swear it will. Continue reading “Wish Falls Abstract Painting #7”

art is the reason I’m not crazy

To the extent that I managed to translate the emotions into images– that is to say, to find the images which were concealed in the emotions– I was inwardly calmed and reassured.

Had I left those images hidden in the emotions, I might have been torn to pieces by them….

Carl Jung

Divided as a Whole SOLD

If I didn’t paint MY WAY, I’d lose my mind. If I didn’t pick up a brush or pencil I’m not quite certain how I’d express deepest emotion. Art is the best medium when there are no words or when words aren’t good enough.  Continue reading “art is the reason I’m not crazy”

Elements an Abstract Painting

Elements FMA

It can be difficult to know what to name some paintings. I sat and looked at this one and began to name the things I saw. Well, there’s most certainly a large moon with detailed gold rim, water that rapidly moves and spills onto red earth. In the background could those be trees or the mountains or are there individuals taking time to feel the cool grass and be refreshed by the water? After I named all the natural elements the tile became clear: Elements. Continue reading “Elements an Abstract Painting”

Waiting for Magic

Waiting for Magic fma

At 7 x 5 inches this painting packs an emotional punch for me. The pallet is gold, green and hues of blue. Fire swirls, water climbs and falls, mist hangs and a young girl in a white dress sits by the bank waiting for something big to happen. This painting is highly textured, is full of energy and wonder. Continue reading “Waiting for Magic”

Artist Thoughts: Seeing and an Abstract Journey

Seeing the Lines
I’d like to learn to paint birds and I’d like to learn to paint more abstract pieces such as expressionism, contemporary and modern abstract. I really, really want to do abstract. I recently purchased an art pad that I intend to dedicate to this abstract journey of mine. When I paint an object such as birds, flowers, what have you, I need a photo reference in front of me so that I can see the lines. A long time ago I didn’t paint sunflowers because I couldn’t ‘see’ it in my head. I couldn’t see the lines of the petals.

I found a website that showed step by step how to paint a sunflower. It was some sort of site where the artist painted with the mouse and then the program showed viewers step by step how the artist painted the piece. That is how I learned to ‘see’ the lines of what I wanted to paint. Wish I could remember that link.

I think I may need to get a cheap book of various birds and flowers. Once I can ‘see’ it I can alter it according to the theme of an individual painting, but I’ve got to learn the lines first.

Abstract Freedom of Expression
Continue reading “Artist Thoughts: Seeing and an Abstract Journey”

Inner Swim

Inner Swim

The young girl sits with her legs crossed by a large koi. One finger touches the water, the other hand lays on her bronze and copper painted pants. Sand has been added to the pants as a symbol of stone. Beautiful, bright pink flowers grow in the garden. Her shirt is shredded fabric, linen pieces. The water wall behind her begins to take her in.

Art Title: Inner Swim
Art by: Faith Magdalene Austin
Medium: Acrylic, Gel, Sand
Size: 11 × 14 inches on heavy board

What the Crows Left Behind

What the Crows Left Behind fma

‘What the Crows Left Behind” is a surreal scene of empty bodies holding their hands up to the wide spread wings of the largest crow. The sky is a river of color boldly contradicting the color next to it. While some of the bodies are beginning to shape shift and morph into crows, others remain empty.
Feathers encircle a figure in all black, some have the beginnings of white feathers, others black. Continue reading “What the Crows Left Behind”

She is the Wind

Sheh is the Wind fmaShe is the Wind’ is primarily a finger painting. The blue hair and the hills as well as the larger parts of the tree were created with my fingers. Details were added with other tools.

The large figure is searching for a part of herself that is missing. She and the warrior that blows in her blue hair, into a white sky, will search and bring her home. Behind the white tree she sees her, weary, cold, wrapped in hills of colors under a burning sky. She has found her. Continue reading “She is the Wind”

Purify

Purify = SOLDIts difficult for me to post art therapy pieces here but awhile ago I decided I would. It’s still had though. This piece is art expressing multiple personality disorder. It is a painting showing the need for one of the figures to feel pure or relieved of her burden. The painting shows all the movement, the light, dark, play, rest and chaos inside my head.

In the painting called ‘Purify’ you’ll see hidden people, hidden faces and layer upon layer of color. Sprouting or perhaps bursting forth from the woman’s face is a large white flower. A body rests over her forehead and lays over her eye. The arm leads to the main figure in the middle who is almost in a state of mental rest. With her eyes closed it is as if she’s blocked out the worries of the world and taken a rest. The taller figure beside her is an odd little girl who wears another little girl in a red dress. She creates the Odd Girl’s eyes, nose and hair bow. There are faceless figures and one figure in a box. There are swirls, strikes, smearing and of course flowers. Continue reading “Purify”