Elizabeth Noerdlinger
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Open Field |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Open Field |
|
|
There is a landscape inside me formed of images of woods and fields and water that I remember from childhood. I feel that this place also somehow reaches back to a time before I was born. The stories I have heard about old times combined with old photographs have made another layer of images, and now this soul place is overlaid with what I see around me everyday in northern California--the trees, hills, grass and sky. Often, when I am caught by the sight of a stand of grass lit by the sun, or the look of a tree against the sky I am reminded of another place and time, although I can’t quite say where, or when. I have returned to painting contemplative places after about two years of investigating violence in Nature (tornadoes, wild fires), and Man’s violence in Nature (bombing campaigns). I can’t explain this path except to think there is always a need and hope for balance. When I begin a painting I cover the entire canvas with a wash of paint, adding more paint and wiping areas away until a landscape emerges. I may have a general idea of the scene, but I let the paint guide me. I build up many thin layers of paint, alternating opaque and transparent layers. |
