"Currently In Show" - "Little Saint" at the Sunshine Gallery Community Exhibition!

I have been so absorbed in producing latest works and process development, as well as attending these shows and other friends shows, that I've been forgetting to post about them!

Well, I participate in an annual community exhibition for the city of Lancaster held at the Sunshine Gallery, where 10x10" cradled wood boards are provided for each participating artist to do...something...with.

It was a fun challenge for me, as I've never worked on cradled wood before.

I've been developing thoughts, sketches, studies, and concepts for this recent immersion into the mythology and cultural history of trees, and I wanted to continue working with the subject for the show.

So I put this little chappie out there - A little "saint":

"Little Saint" - Mixed Media on Cradled Wood, 2016

Some look at the process of exploration playing this concept into a cohesive finished work:

Gold-leafing is the next step, followed by more layers of matte medium:

"Little Saint" is now available for purchase

-Mairin-Taj

"Green Is the Tree of Life" - Tree Post III

Gray are all the theories,

But green is the tree of life.

– Wolfgang von Goethe, poet, philosopher

I've been returning to the concept of my "Infinity Tree" with an interest in working in tandem with inspired poetry and prose on the subject of the tree by noteworthy humans in our history.

Similar to how we enjoy theming music to our mood, focus, and work content, this time I used musings on the tree as my background meditation, as it were.

Meanwhile, I began another study sketch for the project, spring-boarding off of the first one.

Here's the process:

Find the form to work with, roughly...

Trees purify the air;
They also purify the mind …
If you want to save your world,
You must save the trees.
– The Trees of Endor.

He who knows the tree is the knower of the Vedas.
– The Bhagavad-Gita.

Sketchbook open and structures defining themselves...

*Detail

The kingdom of nature holds the whole of the secrets of God.
– Mona Rolfe, Irish mystic, Symbols For Eternity

A tree is like a saint. It calls no one to itself, nor does it send anyone away. It offers to protect everyone who wants to come to it, whether this be a man, a woman, a child, or an animal.
– Ma Anandamayi Ma, Indian saint

Mid-process, layering over color and medium in different techniques...

Gold leaf, enough said...

The best friend on earth of man is the tree. When we use the tree respectfully and economically, we have one of the greatest resources on the earth.
– Frank Lloyd Wright, renowned architect

Forests precede civilisations and deserts follow them.
– Chateaubriand, French diplomat, 1768-1848

Tree Study II, "Infinity Tree" - Final - 2016

*Detail in goldleaf on paper...

Again, this serves the purpose of a second study, a mixed media sketch, a preliminary, based on the notions and concept parameters evolving in my notes.

This is not the final drawing, or final painting for "Infinity Tree".

Such is another sampling of the processes and the inclinations of my mind through the creative stages, and I hope you've found some inspiration or decent musing material in the diverse quotes, as I found. 

Ultimately, the tree is a clear international, multicultural, and perpetual figure for the spiritual, environmental, emotional, and physical health of humanity as well as our world. Let us admire and actively respect them, however and wherever we can, in our lives.

Until next segment,

-Mairin-Taj