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
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| 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. |
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| Marathon Texas, 2012, Valerie Fowler |
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| Marathon, Texas, Formal Living Room Chair, pencil on paper, 2012, Valerie Fowler |
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| Balthus, The Living Room, 1942, more on this picture here |
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| 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. |
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| Marathon Texas Living Room, 2012, Valerie Fowler |
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| Vuillard's preparatory photo of the Bloch family sitting room, 1927 |
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.
