Wind Whispering through Trees

Watercolour

24 x 40 inches on cradle board

NFS

Painted for the Lake Country Art Gallery's Members Exhibition titled Moral Panic, Whisper Campaigns & Wicked Problems. The exhibition runs from March 16th to May 11th, with the opening reception on Saturday, March 16th from 1 pm to 3 pm.

Artist Statement: When I was a kid my mother often ordered my brother and I to “Go outside and play.” I think the idea to “go outside and play” is even more valid and relevant today. And I would add, “go outside and play and leave your devices turned off unless you need to call because of an emergency.” Through the media and the Internet, we are subjected to overwhelming bad news. Figuring out the validity of what is being said, by whom, and what can be done about it can cause major anxiety. For myself, I’ve got an antidote… “go outside and play.” In nature I return to my sense of being part of the Earth. Nature, in its own voice, speaks the truth about our part in the world. As Louis Armstrong sang in What a Wonderful World: “I see skies of blue, and clouds of white, the bright blessed day, the dark sacred night, and I think to myself what a wonderful world.” If we don’t go outside, we can’t engage with our world in an embodied way. For me this is important.

The painting, Wind Whispering through Trees, is my depiction of an antidote to whisper campaigns, moral panic, and wicked problems. The painting is of my granddaughter walking into the forest, but it could very well symbolize me as a child or my inner child exploring nature. I wanted the light to show on the girl’s hair and clothes and for the lightest part of the painting to be the pathway into the scene. The painting is done on tree-free, Terra Skin, paper in watercolor. I have used the technique of spraying or dropping rubbing alcohol onto some areas to create texture, especially on the tree bark. With this technique the pigment moves away as the rubbing alcohol hits the wet paint.