Creating Harmony Beyond vision, painting is a function of all the senses. When painting on location I allow myself to become part of the landscape, kicking off my shoes and melting into the sand. As the light changes, I mix colors to match. In the process, my own wavelengths come into harmony with the earth. I feel rested, rejuvenated and restored: glowing with The Light. Working in the studio, the same thread of creative energy comes through my heart with similar affect.

The Challenge My paintings are about the relationship between earth and sky. Earth represents me; sky, The Creator. On each canvas I play with the four elements; earth, air, fire and water (spark & flow) … having a ‘conversation’ with The Creator in me. Sensing wavelengths of color and light, each brush stroke is as if The Creator is saying to me, “How ‘bout this? How does this feel?” Each suggestion is a mirror of Self which I can choose to adopt as my own or not.

Accepting the Gift I often describe the exercise of painting as flexing my ‘Faith’ muscle. I receive each stroke of inspiration from The Source as a gift; with the challenge of accepting it as given. Many cause me to pause my human instinct to be the judge. Erase, paint over, change?  Each pause is a flex of my faith, stretching me beyond what was previously possible … to see myself with compassion and love.  Each is an experience humility, honor and passion. Each brush stroke brings me one wave closer to The Creator.

Stewards of Compassion The active principle in my work is that we as humans belong to the earth. We are part of it. It does not belong to us. It grounds us here. Without it, our physical world does not exist. We are stewards here, caretakers of The Creator’s world. When we do right by the earth, we honor all Creation including our Selves.

See my collection: Earth, Sky & Water

Photo: Breathless, oil on canvas, 36″ x 36″
Waiting for Spring, pillow painting, 14″ x 27″

I showed Cindy the two tall skinny canvases I was preparing to paint … to go behind a sculpture on one of those skinny walls. The other was the perfect size for another skinny wall which needed something. I didn’t have anything that size so …

I showed her some of the canvas murals I was painting. I had primed 4, 36″ squares of unstretched canvas to make marsh paintings which could be installed on a wall like wall paper or stretched like a gallery wrapped canvas. Cindy looked at me and back at the canvases. “Dorothy, not just marsh images, not just paintings …

Fabrics … pillows … furniture … tiles … whatever you want! Sign them with a different name! Make up several different names! That’s what Ralph Lauren does, different names for different lines.” I looked at Cindy. For once I didn’t have anything to say. I knew she was right.

After Cindy left, I went to painting the two tall skinny canvases. The first I painted sunset pink like I’d seen at Cindy’s house the night before. I painted the bell on her dock in the foreground and an edge of slightly altered hue with an decorative bar at the top. Then I signed “Faith” at the lower right corner.  I printed the letters so it wouldn’t look like my signature.

I hung it in the room next to my Rita D’Amico sculpture of the pelican. Perfect. Jim went to see. “There’s a woman in the painting,” he called from the living room. “Oh, I see!” There she was in the foreground, hair like a bell shape with arms raised over her head with joy! “That’s Faith,” I told him. Faith was the name I took when I was confirmed as a child. Now I have become her.

I looked again at the canvas and laughed. “Look Hon, there at the top … See that bar?” Last night in my dream there were two bars which were down blocking the water. A dog was digging diligently at the base. I knew it would only be a matter of time before the water started seeping through below the bar. Once that happens, it will be impossible to stop it.

“I raised the two bars Hon.”  These two decorative canvases by Faith are priced at $450 each. By creating a new signature line, I now have a more moderately priced decorative line.  And the dog … the dog signifies a powerful friend and ally. It stands for insight, devotion, generosity, protection and FAITH-full- ness! The key is to ‘go forward without hesitation’ because dog provides opportunity to activate latent skills and abilities and to put new plans into action ! Thanks Cindy!

Pictured above: For Whom the Bell Tolls, Faith, 48″ x 12″, $450
Right: Standing Tall at Sunrise, Faith, 48″ x 12″, $450
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