Guardian Heart

Everyone has laughed at this painting from my son's comment, which is unprintable, to another saying that the title should be,"but...butt, but....."
The whole idea was to work with color blocks in pleasing shapes and to keep with the "heart" idea. This popped out.

Abstract Landscape a Natural Evolution

I have done a number of landscapes; outdoors, in the studio, small, large, from photos I've taken, and some from my imagination. For me, painting this abstraction seemed to be a natural evolution of a landscape. The process in my head was the same, the color choices and variations were the same and the depth shown here is similar to my realistic landscapes. This painting is quite large (30 x40) and the color shown here is slightly off. The painting is not quite so yellow. There are small details that cannot be seen here in the photograph and I layered many colors on top of one another. I used an impasto medium as well and the paint is very thick. I guess with all the dreary weather we have been having, I was just looking for a piece o' green and it sure is.

Art All Over the Place

Right now it's late and I have been trying to sort out frames with art, some needing glass, some need to be varnished, some need to be pitched. It seems endless. Trying to gather things together so that they make some kind of sense when hanging as a group is difficult and when I look at it all, I am feeling a bit like Sybil. You know...Sybil, the poor lady with multiple personalities?
Some friends and I were laughing the other day about how we all felt a bit like Sybil and that it seemed to show in the different directions we were taking our art. Oils one day, no, small oils, maybe pastels, larger, some more abstract than others, some thick with paint....some sleek and flat. Painting on canvas, no...painting on board, hey look at this mediaboard! It goes on and on. I know that I can state without reservation that I have Art ADD.
I am envioius of those artists that seem to have found their niche and when seeing their work it all seems to make sense and some kind of logical progression is apparent. Not with my stuff...I paint scenes that I have fallen in love with just because I like the way the clouds look or the reflection on the water and sometimes with these I try to keep them reasonably realistic. Then there are times when I want to capture only the feeling and want everything boiled down to its very essence and don't want to fiddle with the details...only a broad brush. Sometimes I want light, bright, softened colors...then at others I am drawn to the very dark and earthy. All over the place, that's me.
Some of my other artist friends say that they can see a bit of a string running through my work, but I don't see it. We jokingly said that we would like to sign our work with different pseudonyms that would reflect the particular kind of work we were doing. Hmmm....
I think that I shall be Tovar for the dark stuff, plain ol' Laura Dietrick for the traditional landscapes and florals, Dietrick for the abstracts, and Sybil for the stuff I can't seem to find a catagory for.