Life In Contrast

BumberShootStudio Paintings
Copyright 2015
'Midnight Dance'
(Sold)

What's your favorite color? Blue, green maybe magenta? Color brings beauty to what otherwise would be dull and mundane, saturating the world around us with a celebration for the eyes. I also find color to have a musical allure.

When I see color I actually think of sound! When put together correctly color creates a melody. Warm colors to me are higher in pitch while cool colors are lower. Some people relate sound to color intensity, lighter pastels being higher (with more light reflection) and dark richer hues hit lower. Music is harmonization, the sound should flow and unify...same with color.

But good harmony and united color tones alone are not what makes a piece noteworthy. Believe it or not...contrast is where the energy lies, it creates emotion and is what makes something memorable, drawing us in time and time again. It brings depth and in doing so...'life' to the subject.

Too much contrast though, can bring the inverse effect and certainly snuff the 'life' out as well.

As an artist I am constantly trying to better this technique in my paintings but also in my own 'life' striving to make a difference...without disparity.

Time Conceptualization

BumberShootStudio Paintings
Copyright 2016
'Long Life'
(Sold)

As an American, living overseas has many challenges, simple tasks are never straightforward and the concept of time has an entirely different meaning.

China 1994...

You seriously could not get more than one thing done a day, if you needed to do some banking, pay a bill and mail a letter...forget it!

Transportation was horrendous, by the time you made it to your destination it would be lunch and then everybody closed up shop for the next three hours to sleep.

China 2016...

Thankfully it is possible to knock out several things now in one day, you can do your banking, pay a bill and mail a letter...no problem.

Transportation does still have delays but nothing like before and lunch is down to one hour.

The years have brought growth and development but the understanding of what timing is has been misfiled somewhere between 'we should get to that' and 'not so much'.

So to my family and friends who are just now receiving my cards in the mail from China...

Merry Christmas!

The Real Deal

BumberShootStudio Paintings
Work In Progress

"It's from the Qing Dynasty" he said and continued to explain how he came to acquire it. With his poor pronunciation of Mandarin (he spoke a different dialect) and our limited grasp of the language, we understood very little.

He kept saying "it was worth much" pointing to a wad of crumpled newspaper under his jacket. He went on to reveal what seemed to be a solid gold Chinese bullion.

He wanted to get rid of it fast, we could have it "cheap" he kept saying, only two-thousand US dollars. This was twenty-two years ago and we hadn't been in China long...the gold actually looked authentic.

By the time my husband finished haggling the price and we walked away with the gold in our hands for only two US dollars...we knew it wasn't.

It turned black shortly after that.

The real deal can only come from something genuine.

The outside may look and feel legitimate but what's on the inside...it's true substance, is what really matters.

Tools Of The Trade

BumberShootStudio Paintings

Painting in watercolor requires different equipment then painting in oil. They are both beautiful but distinctly unique mediums. Yes, the end result is a painted picture but the means used to achieve those paintings are not the same.

The paintings I've done over the years have been for my own enjoyment. Sharing with others, whether it be art, photographs or writing, removes you from that personal arena and places you in a very public one.

Since I have started a small business with my art, using the web and social media is a must in today's landscape. Store fronts are made of fonts and pixels not brick and mortar.

Thus...the blog.
Honestly folks, this is so not me and I really do struggle with it. But I have been told it's a valuable tool and I hope it will help you get to know the person behind the painting.

Remember The Flowers

BumberShootStudio Paintings

This painting is far from finished and the flowers have no details in them.

It looks like they may represent some sort of white daisy, but could actually be any number of flowers like Cosmos, Zinnia or Dahlia.

Memories are often like that, blurry, vague images of days gone bye.

There are times in my own life where I look back and can't remember a thing or the memory is foggy at best. Yet other times it's all so crystal clear.

In the nineties my family and I lived in China for a number of years but my memories of that period are cloudy. It was a difficult time, for both locals and foreigners.

I don't remember any of the flowers back then...not a one.

Experience has taught me that even under the hardest of circumstances...there is a huge difference between really living and simply existing.

I never thought I'd go back to China, outside of a visit now and again, it was never my plan.

But I did

and the flowers...they are beautiful!

Heart Reflections

BumberShootStudio Paintings

My very first apartment was mostly decorated with hearts. I loved what they represented. We've seen all sorts of pictures portraying what the heart looks like. Everything from simple drawings to detailed photographs. Even now I love painting them, just like this one in the side box.

Hearts are a symbol we often use when showing feelings of love and romance, we give these images to parents, children and lovers.

People are described by what type of heart they have as well...said to be 'good-hearted' or have a 'heart of gold.' Let's not forget the 'bleeding hearts' of the world and how life would be boring without them.

But it is also out of the heart that evil proceeds, it can be deceitful and desperately wicked. This particular imagery though, is not what's commonly illustrated. Most of us would not pick up a greeting card with such dark sentiments.

The real-estate of our heart is priceless, valued beyond measure, yet we allow it to be plundered and poisoned so easily. Guard your hearts above all else...because that which resides therein is what will determine the course of your life.

Fear Factor

BumberShootStudio Paintings

I was six or seven and in some sort of summer activity program for kids (must have been my parents doing). It included swimming...all kids love swimming. Problem was, I didn't know how (maybe that's why I was there).

Well, everyone else did know how so this put me in a real bad position, nobody wants to be the 'only one.'  I knew I could dog-paddle...some, just never been in water higher then my head, so I kept my mouth shut.

To my dismay and utter horror, we went right to the twelve foot pool and monster high dive, I was terrified! You know, heart pounding...light headed...I'm going to throw up terrified!

What was I going to do?
My brain was spinning! So I strategically positioned myself at the back of the line and prayed for the end of the world to come.

I stood there watching, fixated on the other kids, as they plummeted from what seemed like a twenty story high dive. Most would just jump off the board into the deep water and then bob back up moving their arms and legs like little frogs across a huge pond. I began to see a pattern I just couldn't get past the fear.

It was my turn. Still scared to death, now with my heart in my throat, I climbed the ladder, paused for what seemed like an eternity, took a deep breath...then jumped.

I learned to swim that day...
But more important, I learned that your fear does not have to define you.