Rays of Light

Rays of Light
Copyright 2013 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
Prints available on Fine Art America

 

Art is a process... and it's a process that never ends.

Art is a personal gift that changes the recipient. The medium doesn't matter. The intent does.

Art is a personal act of courage, something one human does that creates change in another.

It's not the medium or the oil or the price or whether it hangs on a wall or you eat it. What matters, what makes it art, is that the person who made it overcame the resistance, ignored the voice of doubt and made something worth making. Something risky. Something human.

-Seth Godin

I am in love with Seth Godin's new book "The Icarus Deception."  In it Godin examines the purpose and process of creating art.  What is the purpose behind creating something like this sunset painting?  For me it is to call attention to the divine beauty of nature, of who we are, of what we see.  And the process of mixing the paint, laying it down and making this strange reflection of what is in front of me... this is part of the mess of creation.  This is part of being human.

To love beauty is to see light.

-Victor Hugo

Still Life Paintings

Pitcher and Pears
Copyright 2014 Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
11" x 14"

 The more things change the more they are the same.

-Alphonse Karr

Here are a few still life paintings that I worked on recently as a personal challenge and exercise. Below is the first and last one I created...

Orange and Gold
Copyright 2014 Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
11" x 14"

Apple Reflections
Copyright 2014 Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
11" x 14"

Saturday Morning

Saturday Morning
Copyright 2014 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
11" x 14"

While I was painting this I had one of my favorite songs in my head, "Morning Blues." 

Here are the lyrics...

Been in business and I've been in love

I used to fly high like a turtle dove

Had the blues many a time

Just a girl on a poor boy's mind

I got the morning blues

Oh so bad

Honey come and kiss me

They're the worst I've ever had

Nickel's worth of grease, Dime's worth of lard

I would buy more but the times are too hard

Ain't no need for me to work so hard

'Cause I can live off the chickens in the neighbors yard

I got the morning blues

Oh so bad

Honey come and kiss me

They're the worst I've ever had

Woke up this morning with a pain in my head

So I crawled right back in bed

Alone in the morning make you feel so bad

lonesome blues make you feel so sad

-Traditional Song, Jim Kweskin Version

The Indiana Fiddler's Gathering

Saturday Afternoon at the Indiana Fiddler's Gathering
Copyright 2014 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints available on Fine Art America

Every year I attend the Indiana Fiddler's Gathering.  It is an amazing couple of days where my friends and I camp out and play old-time music 24-7.  At the entrance to the festival they always string bright white lights from the trees.  Imagine the music drifting through the air.  A few hours after I painted this the fireflies came out.  Sigh... next year's festival seems too far away.

Without music, life would be a mistake.

-Nietzsche

Flowers of the Spring

Flowers of the Spring
Copyright 2014 Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"

Now, my fair'st friend,

I would I had some flowers o' the spring that might

Become your time of day.

-Shakespeare, A Winter's Tale

Honey and Roses

Honey and Roses
Copyright 2014 Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"

Hope is the only bee that makes honey without flowers.

-Robert Green Ingersoll 

This is a still life painting of peonies and roses from my garden.  I did two version of it one with a yellow background and one with a red background which I will post next week. This yellow one started with a first layer of paint where I abstractly depicted Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee."  I can still taste the honey.

Below are two photos of the work in progress where the underpainting can still be seen.

Koteewi Park

Koteewi Park
Copyright 2014 Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Original available on Etsy Framed $465.

This past weekend I participated in the Hamilton County Paint Out.  It was an amazing experience and challenge to have just 2 and a half days to create a painting for the competition!  This painting of a spot in beautiful Koteewi Park won Honorable Mention.

Below is a photo of the painting in progress at the scene of the crime...

Now There Is A Pearl

Now There Is A Pearl
Copyright 2014 Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"

An oyster opens his mouth

to swallow one drop.

Now there is a pearl.

Let yourself be silently drawn by the pull of what you really love.

-Rumi

Roses in May

Roses in May
Copyright 2014 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"

And she was fair as is the rose in May.

-Geoffrey Chaucer

Tulips in the Sun

Tulips in the Sun
Copyright 2014 Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
11" x 14"
Original Available on Etsy

Is it so small a thing

To have enjoyed the sun,

To have lived light in the spring,

To have loved, to have thought, to have done. 

-Matthew Arnold

 Join me for painting classes at the Indianapolis Art Center this summer!

Expressionist Painting Register Here:
 http://reg131.imperisoft.com/IndianapolisArtCenter/ProgramDetail/3138323232/Registration.aspx
Acrylic Painting Register Here:
http://reg131.imperisoft.com/IndianapolisArtCenter/ProgramDetail/3138323332/Registration.aspx

Baby Moses

Moses in the Reedbed
Copyright 2014 Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"

It has been awhile since I've done a more modern expressionist painting or a Bible story.  Here the baby Moses lays in the basket floating down the Nile river.  The precarious fate of the infant along with the image of the river has always haunted me.  An orphan whose mother cast him out into the dangerous waters because it was his only hope of survival. 

Since I was cut from the reedbed,
I have made this crying sound.

Anyone apart from someone he loves
understands what I say.

Anyone pulled from a source
longs to go back. 

-Rumi

Join me for Expressionist Painting at the Indianapolis Art Center June 2014!
Register here:
 http://reg131.imperisoft.com/IndianapolisArtCenter/ProgramDetail/3138323232/Registration.aspx

Enjoying the Roses

Enjoying the Roses
Copyright 2014 Addie Hirschten
Acrylic on Canvas
16" x 20"

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.

-Dale Carnegie

Join me for Expressionist Painting at the Indianapolis Art Center June 2014!
Register here:
 http://reg131.imperisoft.com/IndianapolisArtCenter/ProgramDetail/3138323232/Registration.aspx

The Apple of My Eye

The Apple of My Eye
Copyright 2014 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
11" x 14"

Flower of this purple dye,

Hit with Cupid's archery,

Sink in apple of his eye.

-Shakespeare, Midsummer Night's Dream

I created this painting at a workshop with the amazing artist, Pam Newell.  You can find her work at: http://www.pnewellart.com/

Thanks Pam for being such an inspiration!

My Daughter, Age 3

My Daughter, Age 3
Copyright 2014 Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
8" x 10"

Everything that lives is holy, life delights in life.

-William Blake

Portrait of Em

Portrait of Em
Copyright 2014 Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"

Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.

-Ashley Smith

The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden
Copyright 2014 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
18" x 24"
Currently on Display at the Patachou Restaurant, 49th and Penn, Indianapolis

If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.

- Frances Hodgson Burnett,The Secret Garden

Your Rose

Your Rose
Copyright 2014 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
18" x 24"
Currently at the Patachou Restaurant 49th and Penn Indianapolis

It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.

-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry,The Little Prince

"Is the spring coming?" he said. "What is it like?"...

"It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine...”

-Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

Roses are Red

Roses are Red
Copyright 2014 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
18" x 24"

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

This poem sucks,

But hey, I love you.

-Roses are Red Parody, Author Unknown

The Tree Which Moves

The Tree Which Moves
Copyright 2014 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Original Available at the Art IN Hand Gallery

“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.”

-William Blake

Nature's First Green

Nature's First Green
Copyright 2014 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
18" x 24"

Local Indianapolis folks- be sure to stop by the Monon Coffee Co. this month for my solo show, "Trees of Indianapolis" where you can see this painting live and in person!

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

-Robert Frost

SOLD: Waiting for Cherry Blossoms

Waiting for Cherry Blossoms
Copyright 2014 Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
9' x 12"
SOLD

Cherry blossoms

I waited and waited for...

Countryside

-Issa, Haiku

February Florals Day 28!!! Redvein Enkianthus

Redvein Enkianthus
Copyright 2014 Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
9" x 12" 
SOLD

You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming.

-Pablo Neruda

Done!  Finissimo!

For the many folks who encouraged me and contributed inspirational photos as I did this painting challenge- thank you. 

February Florals Day 27: Valentine's Day Gift

Valentine's Day Gift
Copyright 2014 Addie Hirschten
Oil Pastel on Paper
11" x 14"

The greatest gift is a portion of thyself.

-Emerson

This was an experiment for me!

I've never done an impressionist drawing with oil pastels before.

February Florals Day 26: Red Fire

Red Fire
Copyright 2014 Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
9" x 12"

like a red fire

touching the grass,

the cold water.

There is only one question:

how to love this world.

-Mary Oliver, "Spring"

February Florals Day 25: A World Where Roses Bloom

A World Where Roses Bloom
Copyright 2014 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
8" x 10"
Original Available on Etsy

I'm in a world apart

A world where roses bloom.

-From "La Vie En Rose" Lyrics

February Florals Day 24: The Motion of Light

The Motion of Light
Copyright 2014 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
8" x 10"
SOLD

Enigma with Flower 

Victory. It has come late, I had not learnt

how to arrive, like the lily, at will,

the white figure, that pierces

the motionless eternity of earth,

pushing at clear, faint, form,

till the hour strikes: that clay,

with a white ray, or a spur of milk.

Shedding of clothing, the thick darkness of soil,

on whose cliff the fair flower advances,

till the flag of its whiteness

defeats the contemptible deep of night,

and, from the motion of light,

spills itself in astonished seed.

-Pablo Neruda

February Florals Day 23: Shadow is a Color

Shadow is a Color
Copyright 2014 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
9" x 12"

Shadow is a color as light is,

but less brilliant;

light and shadow are only the relation of two tones.

-Paul Cezanne

(This was a study that I created during a still-life session for a class I was teaching.  The lesson being that the darkness behind the flowers is what makes them pop forward... we can't have the light without the darkness.)

February Florals Day 22: The Rainbow of Chaos

The Rainbow of Chaos
Copyright 2014 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
11" x 14"
Original Painting Available on Etsy

We live in a rainbow of chaos.

-Paul Cezanne

February Florals Day 21: Orange Laughter

Orange Laughter
Copyright 2014 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
9" x 12"
SOLD

Of everything I have seen,

it's you I want to go on seeing:

of everything I've touched,

it's your flesh I want to go on touching.

I love your orange laughter.

I am moved by the sight of you sleeping.

What am I to do, love, loved one?

I don't know how others love

or how people loved in the past.

I live, watching you, loving you.

Being in love is my nature. 

-Pablo Neruda

February Florals Day 20: The Bright Bouquet

The Bright Bouquet
Copyright 2014 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Museum Quality Panel
16" x 20"

The springtime's pallid landscape

Will glow like bright bouquet,

Though drifted deep in parian

The village lies to-day.

The lilacs, bending many a year,

With purple load will hang:

The bees will not forget the tune

Their old forefathers sang.

The rose will redden in the bog,

The aster on the hill

Her everlasting fashion set,

And covenant gentians frill,

Till summer folds her miracle

As women do their gown,

Or priests adjust the symbols

When sacrament is done.

-Emily Dickinson, LXXIII

Where I live in Indiana we have just beaten the record with over 51 inches of snow this year!  

We are so ready for spring it hurts.  

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder."  Yes