Ethereal
Oil on canvas
24 x 48”
1950.

About Ethereal

I try to live out of love and not fear. That has been a challenge in the past few years, but painting and nature keep me on track, when I make the effort. To me that means loving everything…the weather, breathing in and out, the feel of a good pair of boots, a person’s smile or the funny things we all do. 

“Ethereal” was born of another painting that I did years ago, after moving from an area with open, rolling hills to the deep woods. That first one was done very quickly and energetically, and I stopped painting before I took it too far and ruined it. It had a solid composition, good color and some mystery, so it sold quickly, but it stayed in my mind. I kept thinking I’d like to revisit it yet make it deeper and richer. Working from my earlier painting as a source, rather than a landscape, I pursued the mystery element in it and let myself play with the application of the paint. It’s included here in Transcendence as an example of how we can evolve without losing anything. Marcel Proust said, “The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes”.