Daily Art- New Work- Kentucky Girl

Full Painting

‘Kentucky Girl’
18″ x 24″ x 2″ (thick)
oils
finished sides needs no frame and is ready to hang
To see more about this work or to purchase CLICK HERE

***
Here is the poem that inspired the art:
Some people do not have to search

-they find their niche early in life and rest there,

seemingly contented and resigned.

They do not seem to ask much of life,

sometimes they do not seem to take it seriously.

At times I envy them,

but usually I do not understand them -

seldom do they understand me.
I am one of the searchers.

There are, I believe, millions of us.

We are not unhappy, but neither are we really content.

We continue to explore life,

hoping to uncover its ultimate secret.

We continue to explore ourselves,

hoping to understand.
We like to walk along the beach -

we are drawn by the ocean,

taken by its power, its unceasing motion,

its mystery and unspeakable beauty.

We like forests and mountains,

deserts and hidden rivers, and the lonely cities as well.
Our sadness is as much a part of our lives as is our laughter.

To share our sadness with the one we love

is perhaps as great a joy as we can know -

unless it is to share our laughter.
We searchers are ambitious only for life itself,

for everything beautiful it can provide.

Most of all we want to love and be loved.

We want to live in a relationship that will not impedeour wandering,

nor prevent our search, nor lock us in prison walls.
We do not want to prove ourselves to another or compete for love.

We are wanderers, dreamers and lovers,

lonely souls who dare ask of life everything good and

beautiful.
- - James Kavanaugh
***
‘Kentucky Girl’ came about while I was on vacation this year. I didn’t paint or draw or even think about art while I as at the lake in the woods. I spent my time inviting butterflies to sit with me, listening to and learning the birds that live here, and discovering new types of water and landscape that are in this beautiful state. I was struck often by the scenery and how it reminded me of back home in Oregon. The hills, the views, the cliff walls and wonderful hiking. The water here is green. I’ve never seen that before, it’s crystal clear and pure, but it’s green. I was told that was because of the copper in all the limestone surrounding most if not all the lakes here. I can’t describe how beautiful it was, really words fail me. Living in the city for the past two years and being so busy getting the studio back up and running, learning the new city streets and secret places, and getting to know the peopel who live here, has been stressful and a little overwhelming. I moved to Kentucky thinking it would be slower that the big crush of the cities on the west coast, and it is…but I learned that I don’t belong in a big city, not even one as big as Lexington. I come from a small town, I lived in the big Northern cities, and I have lived in the extreme rural areas of the NW. I know now that I am a small town person who loves to travel. I live for adventure, but I long for a quiet cabin in the woods with none of the modern crush in my daily life. It makes me happy to be out in the quiet, where the folks that live near by smile and wave when you go by, and always are around to help out or ask for help. I miss living in a small place, now I know I want to live in a small area near or on a lake. It is so peaceful and I needed that for my soul. I grew up on the coasts, I’ve never lived without water near by, this made me remember that and how much I need it around to feel peaceful.

Anyway, I came back to the studio, back to work, life, bills, household chores and the like with a feeling of being able to do it all again. This painting came about in the same way, a quick sketch and the painting really painted itself. I didn’t judge or think I just painted what I was feeling. I like the way it turned out, the cardinal like bird was just from my imagination, I wasn’t going for reality, I do however love the deep red color. I wanted to capture how I felt being on vacation for the first time in ten years. And that my friends, is a good thing.

I hope you have all had a great week. I am planning to start work on a new line for a boutique here in town that has agreed to carry my mutli media work. My functional art and mutli media work is hard to show on line because of trying to photograph them, they are more of “you gotta see them in person ” thing. They also have been my best selling art in the ten years I have been doing this for a full time living, my “bred and buter” work I guess you’d say. I love doing it because it is my native state of being, it’s easy and fun. This line is for a younger audience, so it’ll be my BAD! Kittens line, funny huh? I’m excited by the possibility to re-open my BAD! Kitty line of home decor and functional objects de art. It’s been four years, that is long enough!
I will be starting new art auctions today as well, so check them out

HERE (Overstock) and Happy holiday everyone,
Heather
buy some art today from a living artists
http://www.badkittyartstudio.com