Siblings

©A.K.SIMON - Siblings - 11"x14" oil on linen - $200

Today's Quote: I never for a day gave up listening to the songs of our birds, or watching their peculiar habits, or delineating them in the best way I could.
 John James Audubon quotes  

Once again I will be delaying bush trimming this spring because the bushes and trees are filled with bird nests. I've identified robin and dove but there are probably more. A robin sits on the fence each night squawking at us to leave the area so she can feed her young. The dove made her nest in the wreath on our front door and dive bombs whoever enters there. Every year I swear I will remove that wreath before spring and nest building and every year I forget until it's too late.  

This piece is my impression of a snippet of spring. Mom is not far away!

The Viburnum Over By the Lilac

©A.K.SIMON - The Viburnum Over By The Lilac - 8"x8" oil on linen - 

SOLD

All my life I have tried to pluck a thistle and plant a flower wherever the flower would grow in thought and mind.  Abraham Lincoln

As more and more flowers come to life around me I can't help but be inspired by their grace, perfume and beauty. This is an impression of a viburnum and lilac co-existing on a foggy spring morning just doing what they do with no need for gilding. Many of the tiny buds have yet to bloom but if you cut these types of flowers on woody branches they droop SO fast. 

Breaking Free


©A.K.SIMON - Breaking Free - 8"x8" oil on linen - SOLD

Today's Quote:  He is happiest who hath power to gather wisdom from a flower.      Mary Howitt

                                 

It will be quick today because it's just been one of those non-stop days. Two favorite things to mention today.

1. I love flowers and have purposely tried not to paint them at times falling to the pressure that landscapes are the thing to do. What would the landscape be without the flowers right?

2. The best thing is when you're lost in the moment of painting and one of your artist friends comes up behind you and says, "I want that one." Thanks Becky for helping me pay my rent!

Absence of Color - Really?



©A.K.SIMON - Absense of Color - Really? - 8"x8" oil on linen - $100

Today's Quote: “Women think of all colors except the absence of color. I have said that black has it all. White too. Their beauty is absolute. It is the perfect harmony.” 
― Coco Chanel, Chanel

It's been almost two months since I posted anything to this blog. Here is why. Just a week after my last post a good friend and artist lost her battle with cancer and I lost all momentum and desire for my daily routine. Connie was one of the "upstairs painters" who meets every Tuesday morning. Connie and I have painted together and lunched once a week for the last seven years and just three weeks before she passed we painted together for the last time. Some of her last words to us were, "most people wonder how they will die and at least now I know and I am not afraid."

A few weeks ago I painted this picture and started thinking about white and the absence of color and came across this quote by Coco Chanel who says that the beauty of white is absolute. We are always told that white is the absence of color but look at how this white pitcher holds its own against those bright red cherries (of course I manipulated it but these are the colors I saw). I like to think of white as more a purity of light than an absence of color.

To bring this full circle: Connie has passed from my day-to-day life but has moved to a more profound existence which aligns with the purity of light and life.