Art

For those of you who don't know, my mother is an artist. She has been painting for years - literally since she was about 14. She has even studied art and has a master's degree in the field. That said, she doesn't consider herself a professional at this point because she can't do it full-time and make a living off it - yet!

She had a show this last Friday. One of her friends owns a photography studio and asked her to be the first in a series of monthly art shows. My mother pulled out a few older paintings that she really liked and then frantically painted about 6 new ones to get the show ready. I have to say, as a complete show, this one is probably my favorite. I actually love my mom's work, and no, that's not just because she's my mom. I have always liked her art. Even the paintings that I am not personally crazy about, I always find interesting.

For this show, I honestly liked almost all the paintings. There were about 8 (out of 14) that I would actually hang in my house. The main thing that I think I am most drawn to about my mother's art is her use of and vision for color. Even her muted paintings have amazing color to them. I told her that is probably her signature as an artist - she uses color like few others. Of course, I am not an art critic, but I have been to several shows from several different artists and rarely see paintings that show the vibrant colors of our world.

As the artist, she of course, loves something different...the meanings behind each one. She does love her colorings, but she is much more drawn to the significance of the work. She does a lot of religious-based art and is deeply drawn to that. At the same time, she loves to paint more abstractly and uses that method as an outlet for her inward passions, fears, thoughts, dreams, etc. It all depends on what is "speaking to her" at the time - I guess that's how artists work. I will say that much of her work is truly inspired and holds deep meanings.

Maybe this has sparked interest for someone about my mom's art...I hope so. She is in the process of developing a web page for her work, but until then, I will post a few of her more recent works - as soon as I get home and download them from my camera. : )