Dislocation
I just finished this painting, and am fascinated by how it turned out. The process of painting is so organic for me: far more wildly right brained than writing is. I start with a canvass, and just push paint around. I let the background sit for a couple of days, there on my easel in the middle of the room. I allow it to saturate my subconscious. I think about it in the still moments when I’m nursing Bean, or rocking him to sleep, or when I’m lying in bed just at the cusp of sleep myself. If I’m attentive, images will often alight on the cinemascape of my mind. I’ll see stalky bird legs, or a particular wash of color. Or I might pick up on a mood.
Days go by this way. Until I find the right image to follow, and then I do.
In this painting the colors of the background were so moody, I struggled with how to extend an image beyond their sheer rawness. I wanted this piece to be another in the series I’m making for upcoming café shows, so I wanted to stick with the theme I’d chosen of juxtaposing organic and inorganic; detail and chaos.
Flipping through the bird book DH gave me for Valentine’s Day (along with a pair of incredible binoculars! Yes we’re like that. I gave him a telescope. And no, we didn’t discuss our presents in advance. That’s just how we think.) I found myself lingering over the image of the great blue heron: so majestic, wild, fierce, lonely.
After I’d made the bird, the dark city landscape evolved to go behind it. I was writing about dislocation and creating home at the time, and these ideas became the narrative of this painting.
In Connecticut, where I used to live and work, I’d drive along 95 and I’d feel heartsick at the trash, the urbanization, the acres of cement overrunning coastal wetlands and marshes belonging to egrets and herons, red tailed hawks, grebes, and mallards. Now I’m living northwards by several hundred miles and things seem more in synch. There are wide swaths of open space designated for the birds. Along the sandbar heading towards the islands in Lake Champlain, and huge osprey aeries sit atop telephone poles every mile or so.
But I can’t help feeling like somehow it’s up to me to be a part of making this last. It’s easy to feel entitled. Easy to say, “this is my land.” Harder to make actions reflect the fluttering wonder of my heart.
I am interested: what choices do you make consciously to protect the natural habitat where you live?
Painting, Our round planet, Thoughts & observations |29 Responses to “Dislocation”
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I swear, when I become rich I’m hiring you to do a whole series just for my house. I’ll be your crazy cackling benefactor and send you gobs of money for a Christina original. Seriously, I’m writing it down, so it must be true!
The sky has a northern lights look to it. I like how the city is dwarfed by the hugeness of nature. I’m surprised you’d think this is a left-brained way of being. I’d call it extremely right-brained, like most creative activities.
NOTE: Andrea, I DID mean right brain! Thanks for the correction!
I admire your determination to maintain your part of the world. We live on the edge of a suburb, and we’re visited by plenty of wildlife (gray foxes, gray squirrels, raccoons, possums, blue jays, woodpeckers, robins, finches, hummingbirds, & barn owls to name a few). So we don’t use chemical fertilizers or weed-killers. Also, though we do have areas near the house, with roses, herbs, etc., we’ve left other areas on our hillside with native plants, that we let grow as naturally as possible; in some places we’ve added a few plants for our favorite customers, like buddleia for the butterflies.
p.s. I love your painting!
We plant more for the animals than ourselves, use seaweed and fishh emulsion, live with weeds (sometimes eating them), tolerate bugs, give money to local lobbyists for green belt protection, lobby with them, buy local produce, spread the word, write about nature, dream about reaching a greater audience, teach our young, and hope they will be creatuve thinkers, passionate about saving the planet.
This is my favprite painting so far, not because my nickname is heron but for the colors and chiaroscuro, which I’m naturally drawn to and recreate, myself. Thuis is beautiful, Christina. I think you’re on a great track as you echo your sentiments about preservation. It’s an important theme for you to address, for people to reflect upon, esp.where you live. You are doing your part to insire others to save your northern frontier.
Love the painting, Christina. Have you seen this - http://www.lintrezza.com - yet? It’s a truly inspiring story.
gorgeous, gorgeous work christina…truly breathtaking. psst…by the way i’m one of the folks very attached to their binoculars too. We have these grosbeaks up here that are the most vibrant color, especially against the white background of winter, I can’t wait for the birds to head back north again.
Am so very envious of all the people who will frequent that café.
Although I live in a place now that’s much more environmentally aware than our last place, we reside downtown here, so I feel a bit more removed from nature than I did in our last home which overlooked a pond and the ocean in the distance. I love when you write about your landscape and the creatures that inhabit it. This is a gorgeous painting–love how it turned out. Can’t imagine your show won’t be a smashing success.
P.S. Thanks, as always, for your kind comments.
I love how the grasses almost hide the cityscape - I had to go back to the picture to find it. Beautiful work
I too have a nice pair of binoculars. I can’t wait for the brighter weather so I can resume my walks and start using them in earnest.
I love this, especially with the city scape glimpsed through the grasses and reeds. Your heron is amazing ~ such beautiful detailing; your show is going to be so great!
I try to pick up garbage when I see it lying about but I have to say, in our town we are very conscious of the animals that we share our location with. We live at the base of a 24,000 acre reservation that is home to small creatures ~ skunks, raccoons, deer, foxes, etc. and I try to teach my girl about them and why they live here, etc. I’m also teaching her about the birds that live and come visit our yard. She’s particularly interested in the robins and likes to remind me that they have a red chest and their eggs are blue.
Wow, this one is fantastic! I love the juxtaposition of the fine details of the heron with the abstract quality of the background; very interesting use of texture!
I am so envious of people like you who can transmit creativity to canvas. There are so many thoughts and emotions that I would like to express but for lack of a medium they remain bottled and slowly ferment…
Wow, amazing painting. Simply amazing!
I must admit I can and should be doing more for our environment but I tend to make way too many excuses. I live in a city so I do pick up as much trash on the streets at possible and recycle what I can. I know I can do more and after having a kid I’m even more aware that I need to do more.
beautiful beautiful painting! there is something very very attractive, moving, about the mood and the colors in this series.
Luckily my parents have always been very aware of their connection to the environment and taught me early on the responsibility that we owe to our environment. Don’t under estimate the power of the small things like recycling, no litter, and public transportation - every little bit counts. Thanks for the great reminder.
I loved reading about the process of your painting. so fascinating. and what a beautiful, beautiful painting.
i loved getting this glimpse into your creative process and the connection with nature that your heart yearns for.
This painting is amazing!
This is an amazing painting. I wish I could see the original and just stand in front of it and soak it all up. My mom’s maiden name is Herron, so she and her sisters have an obsession with collecting images and artwork of herrons…she would absolutely love this!!
I love coming to your blog, I never know what wonders you will have on here everyday. Thank you!!
i love the painting…
and how you broke down
the process of your thinking…
i have lived in a fairly
rural
area my whole life
so urbanization
seems very far away to me…
Love reading about your process…and love the idea of the juxtaposition.
Right now I feel pretty disconnected from the natural habitat here. But it is calling to me.
That is a beautiful painting. You are a gifted painter/artist! Thank you for sharing your talent with us
I just love this painting! So glad you shared.
I stopped by this morning, and I was so blown away by this painting that I couldn’t figure out exactly what i wanted to say. I’m still at a loss. It has tremendous power - the light/dark is intense and compelling, the combination of natural and urban elements is challenging to the viewer, and the contrast between the loose and broad agitation of the background and the precision of the heron creates an image that goes beyond the realm of beautiful into…some other place that I can’t describe. Is this a one-piece painting, or is it mixed media? Your show is going to be a real treat for those lucky enough to see it!
Carla–this is mixed media: the background is acrylic, the heron watercolor & pen,and the citycape/marsh grass is collage.
Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone for sharing such encouraging words. Really–you make all the difference. I am so greatful to you for your insight, your thoughts, your kindess.
Oh, and you can view it up close (if you haven’t already figured this out) by clicking on the image, and then clicking on the little box with the arrows in the bottom corner of the enlarged image. That should pull up an image large enough to fill your screen.
I like the duality of the image. The partially hidden city scape with the prairie land is very cool! I’m in awe!
this is AMAZING, Christina! the colors are so earthy and the detail on the heron is fabulous. loving the collaged grass!
This painting is stunning.
What you said about seeing trash and paved-over wetlands while driving to work sounds a lot like where I live. There are very few trees. We haven’t room for them among the strip malls, roads, houses and apartments. The beach I walk along is crowded with over-sized houses that look out-of-place and extravagant to me.
While working at a plant nursery last summer, I became angry with people who came in looking for plants that deer won’t eat and stinky sprays to deter the deer from eating plants they like. One woman was so angry with the chipmunks repeatedly digging up her plants and bulbs that she threatened to kill them the next time. I mourn for these creatures who repeatedly have their habitats stolen. And it makes me sad that not everyone finds amusing little games that the chipmunks play.
Lately I have been wondering about this: how good do our lives have to be? can I become OK with the idea that for me to be live how I do or get what I want or be healthy, other creatures end up suffering or having less than optimal lives? or is becoming comfortable with this idea simply my way of justifying things that I am too lazy to do something about?
On a positive note, my bf and I take our recycling to a nearby drop-off point because, unfortunately, our apartment complex does not have one. Recently I have been looking for organized community clean-ups to join. We only have one car and have been able to live close enough to his job that he can walk there. That way only one of us drives to work. It’s not enough, but it’s something.
Christina, I am a student at Appalachian State University in NC and I am supposed to do a respose paper to some sort of text. I would love to write a response paper about this paiting of the Heron if that would be alright.
I would like to give you credit on my paper for this piece of work and I would need some way to cite it.
Please send me a response if you get this message! Here is my email address:
RL75434@appstate.edu
I really love this painting! i was going through the internet, searching for paintings to use in my classroom when i bumped in to your blog. So far i have selected to use some paintings of Mone, Van Ghogh, Klimt and Klee. I would love to use your painting as well. It implies the problem in such light yet affective way..Please email me if this is all rigth with you(in that case i think your name should be mentioned).