Mary Lou Strode
Washington County in upstate New York boasts no
metropolises. Its rural, relatively
unspoiled character presents many vistas, hillsides, fields, ponds, wooded
places, which have provided ample subject matter for me for the last fifty
years. I occasionally branch out into
other areas.
Recently I was entranced by
a celadon bowl I had acquired from a friend who was moving. The color so appealed to me that I painted it
and hinted at tree forms in the background.
Close-ups of flowers inspired by my several gardens that I tend, are another source of subject matter.
I paint in oils on canvas because I love the quality that they impart to
the painting surface and, of course, the smell.
In
college I majored in art and it was during the reign of abstract-expressionism. We were schooled in this approach to art and
for a time I thought that realism was obsolete.
When I graduated I left with a “modern sensibility” and it took a few
years of experimentation to realize that my true sensibility was to find
inspiration in my surroundings and to surrender to them. Perhaps my modern sensibility has not
entirely disappeared: in working out the composition of a painting I pay
attention to its abstract nature and try to preserve it in the finished
product.
 |
| Celedon |
 |
| Irrigating the Vegtables |
 |
| Night Blooming Cereus |
No comments:
Post a Comment