{betsy walton}

Three Houses in a Field

February 2010, acrylic gouache on clayboard

Occasionally, I stumble across an artist whose work not only evokes my admiration, but who inspires me to create myself. Betsy Walton is prolific to say the least, so it's worth taking a peek at her online portfolio as this post only touches upon her vast works. I could ramble on about how much I love Betsy Walton's work, but really, her paintings speak for themselves.

This is what Auras Look Like

January 2007, gouache on paper

Embers

June 2009, acrylic gouache on panel

Lighting the Fire

October 2008, gouache on panel

Tiptoe

January 2009, acrylic gouache and collage on panel

1

February 2009, gouache on panel

Rescuers

November 2007, Gouache on paper

Snowmelt

February 2010, acrylic gouache on panel

Inhale Exhale

September 2009, acrylic gouache on panel

{backgrounds}

Here's a little bit about my background, and where my love for beautiful homes and making things stems from. My great great grandparents were painters, and they didn't contain their work to the canvas. It flowed out of the frame and all over their home, creating a bright and stimulating place to raise a family of lovers, friends and children. I think their work - which was in the homes of my mother, grandmother and great-grandmothers - filtered into my creative subconcious from an early age, and only much later did I begin to see the parallels. They even created theatre costumes! Their home, Charleston Farmhouse, is now open to the public and is well worth a visit or three.

These photographs were taken by Alan MacSweeney and they are my favorite taken of the house so far

{Riika Sormunen}

A new find that's really excited me to get drawing and use my chalks again! Riika from Oslo can be found here on her charming blog featuring her sketches, and here for some of her more finished illustrations and paintings. I've actually had a go at re-creating the colourful swan princess two drawings down. They say imitation is the best form of flattery... but being able just to draw and look without having to think about what to do next was very freeing. Now I can go on to draw my chalky characters... thank you Riika!

Terrible Beauty

I've been assigned a new project on my costume design course based on Lorca's play 'Blood Wedding'. In my research, i've found myself looking at the myths of the Greek goddess Persephone and of course, the wonderful fruit that is the pomegranate. I immediately thought of the work of Jane Wildgoose (my post titled 'Cabinets of Curiosity', March). Her fascinating on-going work a the Wildgoose Memorial Library is dedicated to:

Persephone, who delighted herself in contemplating beautiful views, flowery meadows and limpid streams*. And to Ceres, her mother, who successfully interceded for Persephone’s safe return to earth for six months each year, after her daughter had been ravished by Pluto and abducted by him to reign as Queen in the infernal regions.

During my research, I stumbled upon the moving-image work of Ori Gersht. Below you can see a still from a piece entitled Pomegranate. You can watch it here {it only takes seconds}. It actually shocked me at first - it's so simple, so obvious, and yet very brutal despite it being incredibly slow. Here's a description below...

In a carefully composed scene reminiscent of a Juan Sanchez Cotan sixteenth-century still life, a pomegranate fruit stands out from a muted, theatrical backdrop. After a few moments, this highly symbolic fruit is exploded by a high-velocity bullet; seeds spilling from its disintegrating carcass in extreme slow motion, and with an eerie and terrible beauty.

Terrible Beauty somehow captures it for me.

Take a look!