Brad

My Husband

Oil on Wood 11"x 14"

Kimberly

My Oldest Daughter

Oil on Wood 11"x 14"

James the First

My Grandpa

Oil on Wood 11"x 14"

Amber

My Third Daughter

11" x 14" Oil on Wood

Barbara

My Mom

11" x 14" Oil on Wood



Circular Chair

11" x 14" Oil On Wood



The Circular Chair Series

The Circular Chair Series: Relationships by Laura Wilde
I am interested in the relationships I have with people. All people. I invite you to sit in my chair so that I can take your picture and whileyou are there I strike up a conversation and we talk. While I talked to Amber she became a little impatient. She had been having issues with school, her boyfriend, the regular things that issues are made of. First I photograph my subject and then I paint them so when I painted this picture I used colors to capture the mood and her mood felt like yellow, reddish- orange, emotional. I took several photos, and finally she thrust her body forward and ran her hands through her hair, thoughtful, contemplative. I wanted to capture that moment because it felt so real.
I have found that the process is half the point. I want to involve as many people as I can in this body of work, a life long study of everyone I meet. It is nice to paint a series that everyone can be a part of, feel roots and connections too. I don’t see people as being detached and separate from each other. Being around my grandpa was a good example of this. My mother and I took care of my grandpa toward the end of his life. It was pretty amazing because he just seemed to get nicer and nicer the more infirm he became. The energy in the house was happy and calm and it felt nice to be around him. A couple of days before he passed away I put him in a lift and lowered him into my chair and took his photo. Then I had my mom sit in my chair and I took her photo. She was a little reticent at first but then her gesture became animated and funny. To me she symbolized how we felt. The green blue background radiated a spiritual clam for me. The pink is love and because it is bright it is also fun.
I enjoy observing people and getting to know them. I keep my chair in the trunk of my car and when I go places I take it out and set in a corner. Sometimes I wait for someone to sit in it, other times I find someone to photograph. I then paint them because I can get to know them better through the colors I use and the way that they interact with me. Sometimes I paint them from life but this is a fast paced world we live in and not many people have time to sit for me. I started this process with my family, and then with friends, and then with friends of friends. I am working my way up to strangers.

Self Portrait

11 x 14" Oil and Pastel on Wood

Grandpa's Dining Room

9 x 12" Oil on Wood

Grandpa's dining room. My Aunt Joanna got really worked up when I didn't dry the table after I washed it. So for her I polished it to a high gloss and added a bowl of fruit so she would be able to sleep that night.

Three Men in a Tub

36 x 48" Oil on Canvas

There are two things I will always be. Firstly I am terrible at spelling and, two, highly experimental.

So this painting is highly experimental. Between the sanding, layering, glazing, more sanding I found people appearing in my painting. The more of them I painted the more seemed to pop out. To me it's Jesus and the Three Men in the Tub, Igor and some on lookers. I don't now maybe I shouldn't say what I think, you know let you decisde as the viewer. Well, I did, what can you do?

Brad's Birthday Cake

9 x 12" Oil on Board

Brad insisted that I make him a cake. He knew how bad it would look but that it would taste good. So here were his specifications: Strawberry cake with pecan frosting in between the two layers. Frost the top with chocolate and walnuts.  I forgot the candles so I used match sticks but cretainly not 42. This year Brad is 7.

Riveting Conversation

9 x 12" Oil on Wood

My mother in law took us out for our anniversary. I look over and there she was snoozing away. I thought it was so funny. She is a busy woman and anytime she sits down she falls asleep.

Between

Between

5" x 7"

Acrylic on Illustration Board

Blue Dobins

Oil on Canvas

I thought I had put this on already but I hadn't. I have such a huge body of work and I have a blog, deviant art, facebook and now I'm working on a website. And even with all of that I don't have all of my paintings (and other things) on the internet. This painting is one of my favorites. Sometimes I feel like I'm looking at my own work third person style. After a couple of weeks (or a couple of years) I look back on it and say "Maybe You were on to something Self".  About a month ago when I was "90 year old grandpa sitting" I stumbled across the same type of painting style one night. I'll try and put that one on following this one.

Relationships

Paint, color, smears together making itself into something other than itself. I find that it is rarely okay to use a pure pigment in its original state. Only as an accent. Primary only means the beginning. Must be molded and mixed into something else.

Walk with me

Holding hands

Discussing the honesty

In and of itself

How much does the pigment want to integrate with other colors?
And when mixed too much it slips into oblivion and unifies but not always into something beautiful. Often times into something truly ugly.
This is where the brush becomes a magic wand. It can create beauty or great ugliness.
But it is really the painter behind the wand. How well does the painter know themselves?
Is the painter overbearing or pleasant? Does the painter mix well with others? Does the painter want to integrate or retain its original state? Philosophically speaking how well does a painter want to know themselves?
Clasp hands together to unify themselves, or at odds, hands the greatest distance from each other?
And do we as painters hold tight to other painter creators and loose ourselves or retain our pure color pigment and add an accent to the collective?
Painters feel this but not all face it or want to articulate it.
We are not separate from each other, not separate from the brush, not separate from the surface, not separate from the pigments and elements we mix together.
We are one with everything.
There needs to be unity or we are not creators and we implode.

My Cigar Box Pochade

I love my box. I use it all of the time. I figured out a way to attach a larger palette to it with another bungee chord so that I can mix larger "messes" of paint (I'll have to take a photo of that ). I like the small palette too, though. It's nice for plein air and minimal color combinations. But of course, as you can see, I also use it for a lot of colors anyway. I'm of several minds as you can tell.

Corona Del Mar

8 x 10 Oil on Canvas Board

Linda

9 x 12 Oil on Prepared Wood
I painted Linda at Randy Higbee's Open Studio last Wednesday.

Amber

12 x 16 Oil on Canvas

A portrait I did for Odd Nerdrum's online competition.

Onions

9 x 12 Oil on Primed Wood

Berch Tree

10 x 10 Oil on Prepared Bristol Paper

The Dog Bed

12 x 12 Oil on Prepared Paper

My little dog Wren has a little dog bed in the livingroom. She spends most of her time there when she is not pacing around the house aimlessly.

Copper Tea Kettle

10 x 10 Oil on Prepered Bristol Paper

I found this tea kettle at the thrift store as well for the small price of  $2.00. Copper is so beautiful. Every color can be found in it depending on its age and how it's been taken care of.

La Signora caffettiera

8 x 10 Oil on Canvas Panel
I found this esspresso maker at the thrift stor for $5.00.  It's awesome. The water boils in the bottom, filters through the grounds in the middle, and comes out of a little spout in the top.

Silver Tea Kettle

8 x 10 Oil On Primed Wood

I use this in conjunction with my coffee press.

Starbucks Christmas Coffee Press

9 x 12 Oil On Canvas (Series: Tea And Coffee)

Fruit

9 x 12 Oil on Linen Panel

I love to paint fruit. Especially citrus.

Random thoughts that should be wondered about……….

Journal entry on 4/27/2010

I think in abstract thought. A lot of symbolism and no real grounded movement. The gravitaion to unusual thinking causes a rash of random thinking and possibilities for new ideas to enter. A sort of portal for invention. I walk a fine line between reality and something else. My artwork is reflective of this type of layering. There is a lot of space between symbols. People tend to focus on the visually observed but the truth of the matter is that matter is one solid form with a vast amount of space around it. Read between the lines because there is more to be seen. Where the spirits live and what else lives there we haven’t discovered yet but there is something we should be intuiting and looking for.

Grandpa's Toys

Grandpa made these toys a long time ago and gave them to me when he outgrew his dollhouse phase. They have been broken and repaired several times. I finally found a brilliant use for them.

Untitled

Gouache and Pastel on Wood and Bottles
Study after Degas

Camping Coffee Pot

8 x 10 Oil on Wood Panel

Radioflyer

Oil on Wood Panel 9 x 12

Gently Cries

Light turns to dark
-Dissemination-
Translucent from Opacity
-Disintegration-
From the outside in
-Oblivion-

Leaves

l collected a bunch of leaves and wow how they turned abstract and more colorful than I had initially envisioned them.

My Studio

Yosemite at Twighlight

My painting of Yosemite. It's quiet and beautiful there.

After Turner

Turner, also, truly amazing so made a study of his work as well.

Boats after Monet

Monet was brilliant so I made a case study of his work.

A Little More About Me

I have had the good fortune to be possessed by the art gods. Really don't think much of other jobs, had 'em and hate 'em. I love paint, its my friend, although on some occasions it can be a little too lusty, for as Odd Nerdrum told me, "Stick to the minimalistic color pallet, for fugitive colors are like beautiful women. so tempting yet when you add it to your painting it Always betrays you". Wise words from a wise man. I paint all of the time and inbetween the "all of" and "the time", I study. Study the old masters, the new masters, light and shadow, composition, effects, tonality, color, oh yes color. I love color. Not too much and not too little. It's sooo tempting. Now some colors, lets say prussian blue, it has a potent personality, wants to jump right in and take control, it is beautiful. It has to be patient because too much is too much but just enough makes the painting live. So does its friend Crimson. I would say on the whole if they had an astological sign it would be Leo.

Squishy

Squishy is the funniest cat. During the day he is completely uninterested in being pet or loved. At night, on the other hand, he purrs, loves to be cuddled and likes sweet nothings whispered into his ear. I guess this would definitely be his day time look. He gets so irritated...it makes me want to give him a big hug whether he likes it or not. He'll let me and he won't struggle but he most definitely won't enjoy it. I love this cat.

Bottom Dwellers

When I was a little kid I was always afraid to swim in lakes, not one lake in particular but ALL lakes in general. I'd be swimming along and for the most part it was consistently cold and then all of a sudden there would be this frigid cold spot, a little further on a warm spot. Now I can handle this, that is not my problem. The real reason lakes are creepy is the creepy water guy that lives down in the bottom. It's the things in the bottom of the lake, the things that tickle my toes or wrap around my ankle. The hands that grab me and threaten to pull me under. It's also the nasty mud between my toes: what makes it feel so nasty if it's just dirt?

Fight the Fear

I find that being a dedicated oil painter can be a dangerously reclusive game. It's so easy to get caught up in the smell of oil and the many colors, brushes, textures, preparation and then just painting. This is good, dedication, but I think all great painters need to live and find inspiration. Being connected is one of the greatest benefits. Every time I hang a painting I am exposing myself, "openings" are scary, always looking to see if I measure up (although we as painters are not supposed to compare because we are all unique) I must say that it is human nature to compare and no matter how much we say we don't... we do. I guess the solution must be damage control: to stop myself before I start. Are all painters afraid of rejection or ridicule? Maybe not, maybe so, but for me, I think that I need to have more faith in myself, be more confident. I would say that most people are kind, I have decided to get out and "do" more. To streak through the proverbial streets of creation exposing my paintings as much as possible, all of my nooks and cranny's.

My Odd Pallet

Brad says I'm far to shy about showing off my achievements, so here's one. When Brad and I were in Norway staying with Odd Nerdrum for a couple of months, Odd came into the student kitchen. I had my little water color pallet sitting on the table. He looked at it and asked whose it was. I told him it was mine. He says " This is so wonderful,I will trade you one of my signed pallets for your signed pallet". My pallet hangs on his studio wall, and the one he gave to me hangs on mine. One of the greatest experiences of my life. Odd is truly one of the kindest people I have ever met. I'm a better person for having become friends with him.

Flowers

I love flowers. I'm not always happy with a

paintings "outcome" but the one with the flowers, I really love this one. I sat out in the front yard on a box and just painted, listening to the birds, the laughter inside the house, little dogs running around my feet, I also dropped my painting pallett upside down on the ground. It was a "perfect" weather day, too. The conditions were just right (which dosent happen very often). .

Scarborough Fair

Simon and Garfunckle sing it best. Old folk lore, a song that know one knows the origination of. Possible, yet impossible. Not there, yet there. What does the future hold.....

Inbetween

On reading Siddhartha: There was an "inbetween", somewhere between enlightenment and earthbound, some clarity but not. He sat by the river and pondered.........

Little Pieces

It feels to me,that, every little thing is a piece of other little things, making big things and on and on and on. This is a middle sized piece of something much larger.

Lemon and Two Oranges

These guys hang on the studio wall at Odd Nerdrum's farm. I painted them while I was there. As you can see buy the mold, well the mold was so beautiful it had to become part of the picture.

Cuddle It Up

I'd never expect lemons to look so chummy. My friend says they either look like there humping or the one is bullying the other. She's so funny, I just love her.

On the Edge

Yosemite at sundown. It's so beautiful there. It appears that the longer I camped there the harder it was to come home. Of course there was this one guy who was riding his scooter down to the little camp store and he was very tall . He was coming down the hill and there was a low overhang. He didn't duck down and he knocked himself out. I think he was pretty ready to go home after that. The sunset was really beautiful though. I hope the guy was Ok. Beautiful sunset.

Bunches O Bananas

I love bananas, they travel in a group and once you learn how to peel them its all up hill from there.

Monets Boat

Monet is so amazing. I decided to paint a copy of this painting because I want that boat.

Apple and His Friends

Apples are fun, so colorful. I was painting along and I look up and he has bugs. They sat there for a long time ( the bugs sat there for a long time, the apple didn't have much of a choice).

Me on Painting

When I first started painting I was trying to find the magic to put into my paintings. But I think I was going about it the wrong way, I paint and the magic finds me. There's the beginning and then I just keep painting and painting and painting, and then it starts to sparkle a little and I keep painting hoping that it comes to something and then if I'm really lucky, I, as the painter, will actually be able to see it. This is a rarity and even if I do see the magic, the magic is different for everyone and thats where everyone else comes in and helps me "see" it. Painting is one of the most meaningful ways for all of us to connect. There is a certain partnership between viewer and creator, it must be this way for otherwise it would have no purpose because we find ourselves through eachother.