Inspiration

I was at the beach two weekends ago and the waves were awesome; great inspiration for new paintings.

The beach was empty and I got some footage of my muse Delaney.

Art in the Open, Philadelphia 2012

I'm still digging paint out from under my nails and recovering from the 1,800 times I crouched and stood up while working. The weather was beautiful. I was in the sun but it didn't bother me because I was talking or working the entire time. My paint tarps were saturated and I had to hang them out to dry when I got home. I worked in fluid acrylics mixed with pouring medium and water, thanks to support from an opportunity grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts.

My work is about my connection to nature. The combination of the environment and my process were successful in drawing observers attention to the river and their own relationship to nature. People enjoyed watching the thinned down paint run and form natural patterns and commented on how it reminded them of rivers, tree branches and their own veins. This was especially true of the paintings on Plexiglass as they are reminiscent of microcosms on slides. I enjoyed hearing peoples thoughts, feelings and impressions of the process and the work as it evolved over the 3 days. I met so many nice people and look forward to seeing the other participating artists at the exhibition opening on June 14th at the Independence Seaport Museum.

Some of the finished work...

I photographed these quickly in my studio for the curator of the show. I'm still working on how the Plexiglas pieces will be displayed.

Nature Photography

Some photos taken recently on my walks through Arden.

New Work

Grounded, 48 x 46 inches

I've finished three of the large paintings. One still alludes me.
Oh and I might still work on the green one. One area is still bothering
ing me, ugh. I should have listened to Drew and left it alone when he told me to. I wish there was a back button in painting.

In the Beginning, 48 x 46 inches

Somewhere Only We Know, 36 x 60 inches

My Opening in Arden

Thanks to everyone that made it out to my opening at the Buzz Ware Village Center in Arden this past Friday evening. It was nice to see so many neighbors and friends and meet some new people as well. It was a great turnout and I received really nice comments about the work. Here's how it looked minus one corner I didn't get a picture of.

I know it's not quite the same as seeing it in person.

My next show is in Wilmington at the Carvel State Office Building at 820 N. French Street in the Delaware Division of the Arts, Mezzanine Gallery for the month of July. The opening is July 8th, 5-8 p m. This is the second Friday due to the 4th of July weekend.

Art on the Town Opening

I will be at the Buzz Ware Village Center in Arden, DE for the April 1st, Art on the Town opening. If you're a local friend, you are invited to stop by. I am planning to show a sampling of works in different mediums. Here's what I wrote for the brochure, so now I must deliver.

"Linda Celestian’s work although abstract is unmistakably inspired by nature. She explores many mediums and has chosen to show works in colored inks, oil paint, encaustic and fiber next to each other the way you might find them in her studio. Come out to meet her and learn how working in more than one medium aids in her to ability to express her feelings about the beauty of nature."

The work I posted paired together for the Duets show application inspired the idea for this show. I might even get some of my photos printed to have on hand. The idea is to present some work together that I'll probably never show together in a gallery setting but will highlight how I work. A photograph taken on vacation might inspire a painting which in turn inspires a sculpture, which inspires me to photograph something I find in nature that reminds me of the painting and so on. In the end it's hard to tell what came first and doesn't even matter. It's easy to see that it all came from me or so I think.

Here's a video interview done by my friend David Nordheimer at the installation of my February show, I'm talking about my inspiration and my technique in oil paint. It's preceded by an infomercial about Wilmington's Art on the Town:

Silk Organza Soft Sculpture

Linda Hutchins is an artist that makes beautiful hand sewn organza sculptures.

Memory of the Dance

Cord

Egg, Cup, Hammer

Jade Plant

Here's an excerpt from her website: Over time, I have distilled my materials and methods to a spare, minimal aesthetic. I use hand-sewn organza to explore the effects of cumulative process in three dimensions. I use hand-drawn line as a basic element to reveal the nature of repetition itself. Dualities between full and empty, convex and concave, right and left, and sensual and cerebral have surfaced as a result. Line is the device that recurs throughout. It is a connector, a separator, a marker of boundaries, a spiraling circularity, and a thread that prevails.

Although her thought process is different from mine I admire the patience that goes into her work. This is a piece I made over a year ago that I'm in the process of trying to duplicate. Every step in the making of it has to be approached slowly and methodically. The process is very meditative, which is nice.

Rain Drop

There's one week left to catch my show Waterways at the DCCA in Wilmington.

Waterways Exhibition

This week I'll be installing my solo show Waterways at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts in Wilmington, DE. I'm so excited to see this group of paintings together in the white cube. Here's an excerpt from my press release and one of the pieces included in the show.

Spilling Over, 24 x 24 inches

The title of the show Waterways refers to the intrinsic qualities of water that are the subject matter for Celestian’s oil paintings.

She depicts the movement and energy observed in nature with layered spills, pours and splatters of thinned oil paint. The paint in its liquid form is allowed to run and puddle and form similar patterns to waterways. Linda is interested in portraying the energy and life force of water to elicit an emotional response. She is inspired as much by aerial photography, as by personal observations of the ocean, lakes of her childhood, and the creek in her neighborhood.

There is a correlation between these imaginary waterways and our own circulatory system illustrating the connection between earth and mankind.

If you are in the area stop by the opening on Friday the 4th, from 5:30-9pm. I'm also showing ink paintings on the featured artist wall on the 2nd floor of the studio building and fiber work in process in my studio. I hope to see you there.

Nature Photograpy

Yesterday I brought my camera along on my walk through the woods. I rock hopped down the middle of Naaman's creek stopping here and there to take pictures of the water.

I didn't bring a tripod so I steadied the camera against my face or knee as best as I could.

I love how you can see bits of blue sky reflected in the water.

Since art imitates nature, this is what I worked on when I got home.

This is painted fabric that I then spray painted with rocks as resists.

The top half of this shot is a painting on plexiglass, I'm holding it up so the light from the window is coming through. This is something I'd love to work on scaling up for the gallery.

Another piece of fabric I worked on. And now I have some really cool spray painted rocks.