Stratos: A new abstract from the "Ancient Earth" Series.

A simply play of color and water combine to present this piece. Atmospheric in quality it takes on the representation of air and water to make this painting rich in its scape and unusual in its quality.

Now available as the original on Fine Art America for $450 it measures 24-inches x 20-inches. Prints start at $34.

Click here to see it:
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/stratos-laura-swink.html

Rain....and it's aftermath....

It doesn't rain enough in the summer-time to suit me. I love a good thunderstorm especially! The humid air with a touch of coolness, the gathering clouds which often times I watch from the backyard. It culminates with the rolling sound of the thunder, the pattering of the rain and its cooling breeze.
But it's not just the thunderstorm that leaves me feeling a tinge of creativity to the point of wanting to go into my studio - it's the grey and sometimes sullen rain day that puts me into a mood of wanting to put color to canvas.
As an artist, I am always looking for inspiration in every place I go and I have often noticed that the wet days are the best days for seeing the play of color and light.
Rain is a mood to be captured - it's more than just trying to technically control both the paint and the process. Here is one of my more successful pieces capturing it.  Blue Trees:

Prints are available online at Fine Art America. Starting at $50.


















Click here to see it:
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/blue-trees-laura-swink.html

A Figurative Process...

A figurative process with paradoxical results using incompatible elements...
"Urban Alchemy" is a piece which combines the elements of light, shadow, color and shape into an abstract cityscape.

It was the exploration of the whole range of color on canvas that began this piece. Simple daubs of paint in the basic shape of the brush from which it came  - then formed together to complete an impression. I have to admit, I am happy with the overall effect - as it was the light that I was desired to capture.

Click here to see this piece on my webiste!
http://laura-swink.artistwebsites.com/featured/urban-alchemy-laura-swink.html

God Bless America.

God bless America, land that I love.

Stand beside her, and guide her,

through the night with a light from above.

From the mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans,

white with foam.

God bless America, my home sweet home!

God bless America, my home sweet home.

Can we take a moment to break this song down...???
"God bless America"
(Let's not forget to whom we are speaking when the song opens)

"Land that I love"
(Here you are telling God why it's important to bless this nation. You love it - so it is important to keep it safe.)

"Stand beside her, and guide her,"
(These are thing we often ask of God - since we as people are faulty and need to be reminded upon which direction to continue)

"Through the night with a light from above"
(This is reminiscent of the Jewish people being brought out of slavery from Egypt when the crossed the desert going to the promised land, where God led their journey with a light--not the moon--but with fire. It was not a mistake that the writer of these lyrics used this particular example. The world is filled with tyranny and it's the desire of that tyranny to enslave - it's the only way it survives - on the backs of its people, who no longer have the power to choose their path and are at the mercy of their masters.)

"From the mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans - white with foam"
(A simple line about the physical beauty which is this land and why we should pray to make certain God continues to bless it - look at all we have to loose.)

"God bless America, my home sweet home!"
(Asking again - for God to bless America, and ending with the ultimate refrain of that we were blessed to be living in this nation. Ever wanted to win the lottery??? You did - you live in America...this is also why the last note of this line ends high in the key.)

"God bless America, my home sweet home"
And this is the only line in the song which repeats. Why? because it's important to ask God for this favor - since it can be so easily lost, especially when people forget how much they have and then come to expect all that to always be there especially when they don't bother to care for it properly.

Don't forget that when this song is sung, it is a prayer for the nation. Sing it with happiness and reverence. It's wonderful.

Happy 4th of July everyone - and Happy Birthday America!

My Beaded Heaven...

It's been a number of years since I discovered how wonderful beads are. I purchased a few from a local craft store and just a string created a bracelet. It grew from there: A catalog from Fire Mountain Gems (for which I was totally unprepared for!! I sat on the deck that day in disbelief that there could be so many beads in one place) Then came the bead shows, and then the magazines - teaching myself how to properly tie, crimp and string.
Since then, I have been published in numerous publications for some of my designs. It's been a great trip, I hope it never ends.
Here is one of my newest pieces - "Whit and Whimsy" Bracelet. Wears very comfortably, and includes free shipping. Only $40.
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/whit-and-whimsy-bracelet-laura-swink.html

Successes versus Failures

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll pop? There's a question that haunted me all throughout my childhood. And now that the fleeting thoughts of my youth have matured into the complicated questions of my adulthood - I am left with a new question: How many failures does it take to get to a successful painting?

Red City
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/red-city-laura-swink.html

I was pondering this on the way to work this morning. I've been in a funk the last week or two and it's really come down to the new piece on which I've been working. Basically, it just isn't going where I think I am directing it to go. Do all paintings have a mind of their own and like a horse you have to break them in order for them to perform as you desire? Is it really that complicated? Or do I just lack any real talent?

I had some really high hopes for the piece and it's just not going where I am leading it - so now I am left to wonder why. The bigger question, however : Is it this way for everyone? How many failures do you have before you get the piece that you've had in your head?

Or is it even simpler than that? When a painter starts on a work, is there no expectation in their minds, no mental picture as to how the piece turns out, or what it is supposed to look like? If that's the case, then I am simply putting myself through far too much worry and overworking the piece until I cannot save it anymore. Maybe my expectations are too high.

I just don't have the answers to these questions. And for certain I am looking to scrape the paint off the canvas, let the skimmed coat dry and simply start over again. And then I think - "Well, what about the next one?" So then I resign myself to putting down the piece until another day - or another month later.

So what now?
Is it like this for everyone?

Blue Noon, light through the lens of rain...

Noon on a rainy day was the impetus for this painting titled "Blue Noon"
I love rainy days, as the surrounding colors become blurred in the ambient light of the environment. And the best rainy days, bring large storms with beautiful white thunderheads and cooling rains.
This piece is an acrylic on a small canvas and sold to a collector in Baltimore, Maryland. Upon receipt of two of my paintings, this collector was kind enough to write to me and tell me to quit my job and paint full time. From then on, I vowed to strive to make every new piece even better than the last:

Blue Noon