Chimeras

Paintings are elusive like chimeras. They invite complicity.

The artist communicates his own vision as he puts paint to canvas. Yet the viewer brings his individual experience to the interchange. Together, they create a rich, unspoken dialogue. Thus the image shares a new and very personal identity with each person who sees it.

There are thousands of paintings by some 750 worldwide artists on the Novica website. Their impact cuts across cultural boundaries and speaks a pure language of sensation.

I often wonder what the elephant artists intended to convey. Perhaps nothing more – and nothing less – than a very primal joy.

Imagining

When I left the big house, I was able to bring the art work I'd collected over a lifetime. Each one means so much to me – the cedar sandpiper by an Ocracoke woodcarver. My own fiber sculptures. A delicate watercolor by Jean Dean.

My favorite painting is 'White Autumn' by Robert York. Its subtlety suggests imminent snowfall yet summer's hues are still present. They compete with the intricate patterns of bare black branches and naked stone. Seasonal green is insistent but no longer dominant, while sky blue remains constant. Sunshine is dappled; the wind is crisp.

I imagine sparrows, their feathers puffed for warmth. I recall the taste of snowflakes and the scent of wood smoke. The artist evokes these sensations with the simplest of line and layers of pure, clear color.

I loved to watch him work.