Thank You to SlogBite for Featuring My Blog, and to Absolute Arts for Featuring "Electric Landscape" Tomorrow

I just want to share with you that that my abstract acrylic painting, "Electric Landscape" has been chosen to be among the featured artwork on the homepages at World Wide Arts Resources and absolutearts.com tomorrow, February 28. The feature is for the day and the rotation changes every few minutes. If you want, you can stop by at http://wwar.com/ and http://www.absolutearts.com/ to take a look at the featured paintings.

I know some of you have already seen this piece and I apologize for pulling it out again. But I want to share my two minutes in the sun with you. Who knows, maybe I'll pull in a new buyer! It's good exposure, at any rate.

Since we have a forecast of rain for Sunday, I may have to bring my paintings home from my show tomorrow instead of Sunday. If that's the case, I may miss my painting on Absolute Arts. Thank you, Markus, for featuring me!

****************

Another person I want to thank is Mel Kaye over at SlogBite, for featuring me on his site this week. Please go over and check out this wonderful new blogger's directory and community if you haven't already done so. Mel is doing a great job developing the site and he thinks of all the angles. I have a feeling this is one blogging community that's going to be around for a long time!

I think that Mel should run for Congress, because he solicits our opinions and then actually considers the feedback he gets. Kudos to you, Mel! (I tried to insert the "Dancing SlogBite Guy" in this post, but he wouldn't cooperate.)

"Metrimorphic III," My New Exhibit of Abstract Expressionist Paintings

"Colliding Orbs," My New Abstract Expressionist Painting

This is my latest acrylic painting. It's 24 x 36 inches, and titled "Colliding Orbs." I was going to call it "A Stitch in Time" because it reminded me of agitated clocks and a vision of time run amuck, which might have been a more fitting title when considering the chaos in our world. What do you think?

When I paint, I'm after the physical, kinesthetic experience of moving around a surface and applying pigment to it, and watching what evolves. It's like a mad dance or ritual color-celebration, in which I pursue a new visual experience. I'm not trying to replicate anything from our everyday world, but rather, to immerse myself in a novel sensory experience that will yield an equally unpredictable product with its own life and totality. It's this evolving and dynamic process of finding color, composition, and form in new arrangements, that gives me excitement and makes my days interesting.

Wikipedia defines Abstract Expressionism as:

Abstract expressionism was an American post–World War II art movement. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve worldwide influence and also the one that put New York City at the center of the art world, a role formerly filled by Paris. Although the term "abstract expressionism" was first applied to American art in 1946 by the art critic Robert Coates, it had been first used in Germany in 1919 in the magazine Der Sturm, regarding German Expressionism. In the USA, Alfred Barr was the first to use this term in 1929 in relation to works by Wassily Kandinsky.[1]

Technically, an important predecessor is surrealism, with its emphasis on spontaneous, automatic or subconscious creation. Jackson Pollock's dripping paint onto a canvas laid on the floor is a technique that has its roots in the work of Max Ernst. Another important early manifestation of what came to be abstract expressionism is the work of American Northwest artist Mark Tobey, especially his "white writing" canvases, which, though generally not large in scale, anticipate the "all over" look of Pollock's drip paintings.

The movement's name is derived from the combination of the emotional intensity and self-denial of the German Expressionists with the anti-figurative aesthetic of the European abstract schools such as Futurism, the Bauhaus and Synthetic Cubism. Additionally, it has an image of being rebellious, anarchic, highly idiosyncratic and, some feel, rather nihilistic.[2] In practice, the term is applied to any number of artists working (mostly) in New York who had quite different styles, and even applied to work which is not especially abstract nor expressionist. Pollock's energetic "action paintings", with their "busy" feel are different, both technically and aesthetically, to the violent and grotesque Women series of Willem de Kooning (which are figurative paintings) and to the rectangles of color in Mark Rothko's Color Field paintings (which is not what would usually be called expressionist and which Rothko denied was abstract), yet all three are classified as abstract expressionists.

Abstract expressionism has many stylistic similarities to the Russian artists of the early twentieth century such as Wassily Kandinsky. Although it is true that spontaneity or the impression of spontaneity characterized many of the abstract expressionists works, most of these paintings involved careful planning, especially since their large size demanded it. With artists like Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Emma Kunz, and later on Rothko, Barnett Newman and Agnes Martin, abstract art clearly implied expression of ideas concerning the spiritual, the unconscious and the mind.[3]

I'm one of those people who finds fascination in the spiritual and subconscious aspects of art-making. I paint for the love of it, and I try to leave the critical adult behind me in favor of joy. For me, the joy of painting evokes the childhood happiness of free expression, exploration, and spontaneity. It provides the stimulation and excitement of a unique experience. In this case, THE VISUAL EXPERIENCE. I have capitalized this phrase because it so succinctly defines my goal and describes the gratification I feel in the process of putting pigment on canvas.

How do you feel about Abstract Expressionism or about abstract art in general? Does it excite your eye and resonate for you? Who are your favorite artists, abstract or otherwise?

Detail of "Colliding Orbs - Image c Lynda Lehmann

Image and text c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind, where you can choose from several sizes and paper types or buy my prints plain or matted and framed. >

Blue Genesis, The Texture of Life, Damariscotta Dream

A few of my friends have asked me how I manage to paint when we are in Maine, working on the house. So I'll tell you that I paint at the top of the garage, where I have no running water. I have to carry it across the street and up a LONG flight of stairs in containers, and use it sparingly to rinse my brushes, seen here. Often I leave them soaking and keep my fingers crossed that they won't mold or rot before I can use them again. It's inconvenient. But hey, where there's a will, there's a way!

Here are a few of my recent paintings. I've done ten of them in the past few weeks. Which was a good thing--I had not touched brush and pigment for the past four months, as that big ole' train called "life" kept coming at me with other things!

Blue Genesis - Image c 2008 Lynda Lehmann

Damariscotta Dream - Image c 2008 Lynda Lehmann

The Texture of Life - Image c 20008 Lynda Lehmann

The Texture of Life has been loaded for the SAATCHI SHOWDOWN round that ends on September 29, so there are just two days left to vote. I meant to post this sooner, but it got away from me. http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/showdown/index.php?showpic=165621

A great big THANK YOU to my blogging friends for your comments, and for sharing your thoughts and interests on your blogs!

Images c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind, where you can buy my prints plain or matted and framed.

"Untitled Gray" Entered for Saatchi Showdown Vote!

I've entered "Untitled Gray" in the SAATCHI SHOWDOWN round that runs this week, from May 19 - 26. Can you please take a minute to give my painting your vote? Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to vote in the past.

On most days, the site loads quite fast, and the voting takes just a second! Thanks again for your support! Wishing you all a productive week and sunny skies.

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/showdown/index.php?showpic=139563

Image c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind .

Roots of Spring

For me, this painting evokes tree roots, tender shoots, moss and lichen, and all the other life forms that emerge in a welter of new growth, each spring. Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas, 24 x 30 inches. Abstract Expressionist in style and full of motion, gesture, and color.

Please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography if you would like to see more of my work, including paintings, photographs of a wide variety of subject matter, and digital art.

Thanks for stopping by!

The Opening of My Show "Peripheral Vision"

On Saturday afternoon my solo painting show opened at the Alfred Van Loen Gallery at South Huntington Library on Long Island. The weather was overcast and chilly, but not especially wintry. We had a great turnout, and the show was beautifully curated by Deborah Katz. Of course my paintings look a whole lot better on the large and well-lit walls of a beautiful gallery than they do crowded onto my walls at home. My thanks to all my visitors and to my blogger friends who sent their best wishes!


One of my favorite moments was actually on Friday, when Deborah and I were hanging the show for Saturday's Opening. Two adorable kids came through the gallery with their mother, and I heard them utter "Oooh, Mommy!" in excited voices, as they pointed at one or another of my paintings with huge smiles on their faces. It seems they loved my colors! Now there's my most enthusiastic audience, I thought! Maybe I haven't lost the child in me, after all!


I had to wonder how such a tiny tot as this little boy could respond to a totally abstract work like "The Garden in Spring," seen here, with such apparent delight.

Whatever the reason, I enjoyed his reaction and it made me feel good that for this child at least, my work was fun to look at. In this photo, the two tots are checking out my painting "Oceano."

And here is Deborah Katz, hanging "Cerebration." I can't tell you how many times she was up and down that ladder, and I was exhausted, just watching her. (I did help her hold up and align the paintings, but stood back to get this shot.)

This is the Alfred Van Loen Gallery, a beautiful space with curved walls and attractive lighting. The wall to the right, not visible in this image, holds many of my paintings. The larger paintings are hung with more space around them, because of their bold and bright colors and active forms.

Here are a few of my guests. I knew many of them, and since there were quite a few faces I couldn't identify, I'd say that 85-100 people appeared at my Opening between 2:00 and 4:00. I had wanted to take more photos, but when the room became crowded, I found myself running around like a chicken without a head, greeting people and talking to friends. And naturally, every time I pointed my camera, someone walked in front of it. (Those are the times when I become aware that I'm a short person, lol...)

Many people approached me to tell me which work or works they liked the best, and that was gratifying. And at least five or six of them asked questions like "Did you take a class on how to name your paintings?" Although they were kidding about taking a course in title-making, there seemed to be a consensus that my titles were apt and well-chosen. Many folks told me they were amazed at how well they fit. To me this meant that the mood, emotion, season or natural phenomenon that the painting evoked for me, was also perceivable to them. It's interesting that abstraction can convey certain impressions or ideas this way, since it lacks literal or objective meaning and has a high level of ambiguity that leaves the mind free to find its own interpretation.

It didn't snow on the day of my reception and the food, catered by a local supermarket, was very good. By the time 4:00 rolled around, I was desperate for some of those bakery cookies, but they were all gone! I didn't get even one of them!

A good friend of mine whom I know since the seventh grade came from New Jersey with her husband, to have dinner with us. For me it was a happy day and although it was fun, I'm glad the Opening is over! (I didn't make my change-over to a "fly on the wall" in time...)

Thank you for sharing a bit of my show with me. I hope you've had a good week!

To view more of my art, please visit www.lyndalehmann.com

Peripheral Vision

"PERIPHERAL VISION," a solo show of my abstract acrylic paintings, opens at the Alfred Van Loen Gallery at the South Huntington Library in South Huntington, NY, on February, 9, 2008, and will run through March 6. The Opening Reception is from 2:00-4:00 p.m. and the show will be curated by Deborah Katz.

Hoopla - 48" x 60"

STATEMENT: My paintings are energetic, active if not frenetic, and complex. I feel they reflect the complexity and mutability of personal consciousness, as well as the impermanence of what we call “objective” reality. My work exhibits order within chaos, much as we experience a certain order within all the complexity and disorder of both civilization and the natural world.

In my paintings I prefer the ambiguity, freedom and musicality of abstraction. My work is as chaotic as waves breaking on a beach or a swelling cloudscape impinging on a changing horizon. Reality is relative, not fixed. What we call “reality” does not exist in any absolute sense, but only in increments of change. I see the nuances of my subjective reality not in subtle tones, but in patches of bright, swirling color. For me the act of painting is a dance; it connects me to elemental and primordial forces underpinning my life experience. Each time you view one of my paintings, you are likely to see something different, just as in the changing paradigms of the human condition.

As a child I was a “tomboy” and chose active encounter with nature as the platform for my expression of wonder and joy. As active as I was, a quiet part of me savored any kind of visual phenomenon. As an adult I still delight in encounter with nature and love to photograph and write about the beauty I find there. But I also choose to express through form, movement, gesture and color, my own internal reality. This is my way of staying in touch with the wonder of childhood. I feel fortunate that my life has been marked by what I consider to be a profound awe and joy of being.

Oceano - 40" x 40"

Thanks for reading a long post and for sharing this with me. I'll try to take some photos at the show and post them! Since you can't come to the show, please visit http://www.lyndalehmann.com/ to see more of my art!

Cosmos - 36" x 30"

"Last Light" at Saatchi Gallery Showdown

I've entered "Last Light" into the next round of the Saatchi Showdown. If you like it, you can vote for it on a scale from one to ten, ten being the highest. Votes for this round start on 12-17 and end on 12-24. This abstract acrylic has an optical quality. I painted it on 18 x 24 inch gallery-wrapped canvas. It was inspired by the rose, orange, and azure hues reflected on the lake surface after sunset. The play of colors in the water is like a light show, though the feeling it gives is much more moving and profound. Image c 2006 Lynda Lehmann.

With two clicks, you can vote for it here: http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/showdown/index.php?showpic=105775 . Your kindness and support are much appreciated! If you don't have time, I understand!

Saatchi Showdown - Please Vote on My Painting!

Here is my bid for shameless self-promotion! Please take just one minute and vote for my painting at Saatchi Gallery's Showdown. I will be forever grateful. (well, maybe not forever...)

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/showdown/index.php?showpic=99900

If you like my painting you can give it a 10. If you don't like it, you can give it the boot with a "1" rating! It's your judgement call!

I know you're all very busy, as Thanksgiving is almost upon us, so I doubly appreciate your support! Have an enjoyable holiday, everyone!

Art Critic Nicholas Forrest Has Chosen Me for His Top Ten at Saatchi Online

I put up this post a few days ago but almost as soon as I published it, the page to which I referred disappeared. So I'm revising the post to include a different link that I found in a Google search. It's http://artforprofits.wordpress.com/2007/11/04/nicks-top-ten-artists-from-the-saatchi-online-gallery/


Here you can see the text of the original article published at Saatchi Gallery Magazine, minus the photographs of art works by each artist's name. I feel very fortunate that art critic Nicholas Forrest has named me among his "Top Ten" artists to be watched, out of the more than 60,000 artists at Saatchi Gallery Online. I'm enjoying my five minutes in the sun...


Thanks for stopping by and sharing this with me!


Oh, I almost forgot to say that the image above is "Festival," and it was on the original article at Saatchi, next to my listing. Image c Lynda Lehmann 2006. "Festival" is available on my http://www.lyndalehmann.com/ site, as well as at Saatchi and Absolute Arts.

Peacock Elegy

Of course, when you look at an abstract painting you can take whatever you want from it. The interpretation is yours to make. I think about our ailing planet a lot, and that's how this title probably surfaced in my mind. If you want to help preserve biodiversity like I do, and you know that the presence of squirrels and Blue Jays or Robins in your yard does not mean we are not losing precious species every day, why not check out the action alerts of some of the reliable environmental groups. I have some posted in the sidebar on this page. Let's all be part of the solution!

This flowing abstract expressionist painting is done in acrylic in shades of blue, mauve, purple, and orange, 36 x 48 inches on gallery-wrapped canvas, with an Oriental look. It reminds me of a tapestry. Image c 2007 Lynda Lehmann. "Peacock Elegy" is available at www.LyndaLehmann.com

Amazon

Biodiversity is important for the continuation of life on Earth. Every species that becomes extinct effects every other species in the food chain, either directly or indirectly. If you are not already a member of a reputable environmental organization, I recommend the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Union of Concerned Scientists, or the Sierra Club. If you would like to learn more about earth stewardship issues, please visit one of these organizations on the web. Or join one of the many others that deal with environmental issues, from how to store or dispose of nuclear waste, to biodiversity, food safety, fuel efficiency, depletion of of Earth's resources, Global Warming, etc. I'll post some of these sites on the side bar of this blog, just as soon as I can get to it. You and I have only one precious life to live, and collectively, we have one planet to protect. Indeed, it is our home--and our children's home. Our only home.

"Amazon" is an abstract expressionist painting that to me, suggests a jungle teeming with foliage and all manner of organic form; sunlight filtering through the lush canopy; and perhaps the gift of fresh rainwater swirling into the river. Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas, 36 x 48 inches. This painting is available at www.LyndaLehmann.com . Image and text c Lynda Lehmann.

Primal Spirit

Done by manipulation of an original photograph in Photoshop, using a variety of filters. This image reminds me of both primal earth process and primal emotion. We tend to forget sometimes that we are organic beings, closely tied to our planet by our biology. If our Earth suffers, is under assault by myriad destructive forces, than so are we. I think things may be reaching critical mass, and we try to hide from the truth by our material pursuits, our passions, and our ideologies. Wouldn't it be better for all of us to participate in democracy, find our political will and make our voices heard, than passively watch the world slide into environmental crisis?

I recommend the following organizations for reliable information on environmental issues:

Union of Concerned Scientists http://www.ucsusa.org/
Natural Resources Defense Council http://www.nrdc.org/
Stop Global Warming http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/

I have been familiar with the Union of Concerned Scientists and the NRDC for more than 20 years, and I find both groups to be very reliable sources of information. Even the federal government consults with the NRDC for information.

"Primal Spirit" is available at http://www.lyndalehmann.com/ as an archival print on canvas, 11 x 14 inches. Please feel free to ask about other sizes.

Text and image c Lynda Lehmann.

Festival

"Festival" is one of my recent paintings. It's an active and colorful abstract with an impasto surface, lighthearted and slightly humorous. Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas, 36 x 30 inches. Image c Lynda Lehmann. I've entered this piece into the Saatchi Gallery "Showdown," so if you like it, you can vote for it (two seconds and just two clicks) between June 11 and June 18 at the following link. Thanks for your support!
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/showdown/index.php?showpic=24843

Colors of the Sun

No matter how much I read in the way of explanation, certain phenomena continue to amaze me. For instance, the concept that sunlight contains all the colors of the spectrum, and the colors of all things are determined by the way in which their particular molecular structure reflects/refracts sunlight. Consider the colors of a rainbow against a gray-green stormy sky, or the colors and patterns of Aurora Borealis. Or the hues of flowers.

Color as an inherent property of variations of molecular structure seems so marvelous, intricate and amazing a scheme to me, and so improbable. In fact, the existence of color in all its rich, gorgeous and mellifluous variations, seems entirely unlikely to unfold by virtue of the laws of science. If color is an adjunct form or system of ordering within the complexity of the universe, why such an extended nomenclature? Hence I am driven again, to believing in miracles. Not in a Biblical sense, necessarily, but in the sense of something awesome and extraordinary. Whether such miracles derive from the exigencies of evolution or by the hand of God, is beyond both my knowledge, ability, and desire to expound upon. Suffice it to say that my sense of awe is piqued by such seemingly serendipitous gifts of organized complexity.

In spite of a number of books that address the marvel of the apparently self-ordering qualities of the universe, I cannot conceive of the ubiquitous and layered complexity that makes up our world.

In this painting, "Colors of the Sun," I was paying homage to the wonder of color. Light from the sun contains all the colors in our visible spectrum. So essentially, sunlight casts layers of color all over our world. Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas, 30 x 36 inches.

If you would like to see more of my art please visit www.lyndalehmann.com. Or read my articles at http://www.creativityportal.com/articles/lynda-lehmann/. Image and all text c 2007 Lynda Lehmann.

The Garden in Spring

Acrylic painting on gallery-wrapped canvas, 24 x 30 inches, evokes the gentleness of a warm spring day and the lushness of tender new growth. The underpainting on this canvas provided a rich surface topography to paint on, and the glow of some of the underlying colors shows through. Sweet and lyrical. Image c Lynda Lehmann.

To see more of my painting and photography, please visit www.lyndalehmann.com

Fire and Water

Like many people, I am fascinated by small and fleeting phenomena. Snow crystals on the window pane, the textures of water as it flows over pebbles in a crystal-clear stream, patterns of foam at seaside or patterns in licks of hearthflame--fleeting moments of nature, the elements in their changing forms, whose shape, texture, and shimmer evoke elemental and eternal things beyond our ability to comprehend. Science may illuminate the mechanism, but not the mystery, of nature's cycles. This painting is acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas, 24 x 36 inches. Please visit www.lyndalehmann.com if you would like to see more of my work! Image and text c 2007 Lynda Lehmann.

The Forest Floor in Autumn

For me, this painting evokes the sweet, damp air of the woods in autumn, when the forest floor is vibrant with the litter of fallen leaves layered over moss and lichen--a panoply of rich colors, odors, and textures.

In advance of its inevitable slide into winter, Earth yields her bounty, which you can smell in the air and feel underfoot. And the sweet musk in the twilit air of the autumn afternoon speaks at once, of both decay and regeneration.

Some of the most interesting life forms lurk in the quiet, hidden places guarded by tree roots and boulders. There the emerald moss spreads, unnoticed, and fungi branch in their own design and designated life song.

Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas, 30 x 40 inches. Text and image c 2007 Lynda Lehmann.

Available at www.lyndalehmann.com