“Peace” (“Dali Lama”) Jan. 2011 Media: Acrylic over Mixed Media
Notes: Shown at Holland’s Gallery Night, Feb. 2011--brand new. Will show at NWTC in April.
“Peace” was created as a trail image for a series I’ve created that will show at NWTC in their gallery space from April through May 2011. These images are mostly well-known people’s portraits done in a more contemporary fashion and over a brightly colored collaged background of some kind.
This piece was started in summer 2010 while I was at Neville Public museum at their Studio 210 residency program. I created a drawing done with a heavy emphasis on straight black lines based on a figure in Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, The Libyan Sibyl (left). I never felt the drawing was going anywhere and finally secured it to a board and painting all over it. Then this series of portraits began.
The board made a perfectly good background for a portrait and just needed the right face. The faces are all based on “values” in today’s world. There is creativity, grace, honor and many more. I read a bit about each person I painted or did digitally and the phrases that kept popping out for Dali Lama were all centered around peace and seeking peace.
I believe that Truth is universal, obviously I believe that Jesus is attached to that, and good values translate through culture, time and seasons of life.
What am I learning from my art? That people want something true, they are drawn in and captivated by people who share things that unveil that truth and that no matter your background, point of view or anything else if you respect one another enough to hear/see/experience those true things then you will be changed.
