Interiors, Taming the Wilderness Within

I am gathering ideas. Entertaining a new direction. Not ready to dive in just yet--just putting some tentative toes in the water...

Creative ideas and impulses percolate everywhere, mostly where and when I do not expect, so I try to keep my whole person open in order to collect them. I follow some, but never completely ignore the others. For roughly the last 15 years I've been painting botanically inspired images, fantastical landscapes, and scenes revealing a bit of subterranean earth--inexhaustible subject matter really, which challenges my painting skill while allowing my oeuvre to continue to evolve. Mostly this is true--and stimulating enough to keep me satisfied and growing artistically. Yet, I am increasingly drawn to subject matter not at all related to the out-of-doors: interiors, in particular, and in the traditional sense. I love Vuillard's interiors especially, and Balthus's of course, but it's been many years since I have painted a true interior scene.

This was, I think, my last true interior painting, 1985

Saturday, oil on canvas, 36x48", 1985, Valerie Fowler

 So, for now, I am cataloging subject matter, hoping to connect some dots in my own mind until I recognize my role. Scenes, venues, settings, already important in my out-of-door subject matter, are becoming contained, controlled and hemmed in.

Marathon Texas,  2012, Valerie Fowler

Marathon, Texas, Formal Living Room Chair, pencil on paper, 2012, Valerie Fowler

Balthus, The Living Room, 1942, more on this picture here

Ramona After Balthus, oil on canvas, 35x54", 2009, Valerie Fowler.
My first and only attempt at homage to one of my all time hero painters.

Marathon Texas Living Room, 2012, Valerie Fowler

Vuillard's preparatory photo of the Bloch family sitting room, 1927

 Vuillard Bloch Portrait, 1927-29

Not sure where this will lead or what it says about my mental state, after all, the interior scenes to which I am most attracted are usually dark, claustrophobic, and quite eery. I must own what is mine.

Meanwhile, Happy Holidays. 

May your interiors be most merry, sweetly cozy and never completely tame.