Mar 29 2011
Artist Statement
Light stirs my senses, colors entice me, and as I immerse myself deeply in painting, I even dream at night that I become a whirling shifting kaleidoscope of colors. I believe we all have connection to deeper realms of spirit and understanding. Paint is my favorite doorway to express that connection in daily life.
Yes, paint, that awkward, recalcitrant, but truly exhilarating medium, is indeed my favorite. I rarely paint in oils any more as I love the quick drying rhythms of acrylics and watercolors.
It is true paint pigments and light work at odds with each other. Light does one thing, and pigments behave quite another way. Some colors float out of reach in mind’s eye, no chemical pigment compositions available to reach them. Yet, sometimes the brush dances in the paint and brings the illusions of light to the canvas. This is my joy.
I am happiest holding a large brush in front of a canvas taller than I am. And what do I paint on that canvas? I often choose flowers from my own extensive gardens. I grow thousands of Shirley poppies each summer, as well as many other flowers.
But I may also choose to paint an inner landscape, those odysseys of spirit that take me as close to the divine as I can safely venture. Yet another choice might be quite mundane objects as I just play with light and color.
The truth of the matter is that all of these differing subjects are the same in that each is simply an expression of my own passionate connection with life. Joy and harmony are the purest expressions of the soul and paint is where I explore that expression most freely.
Lexi Sundell
?