In Praise of Abstraction

Metrimorphic III -  c Lynda Lehmann 

If we are going to discuss the validation of art by virtue of "skill" or "meaning," we have to give abstraction a fair shake. To my way of thinking, abstract art is more interesting (if not more beautiful) than realism, because it presents a visual experience that has no precedent in reality. It presents something totally new and is its own reality. Realism refers to a single point in time and space even when it is arresting, compelling and speaks to universals.
But abstraction can be richly layered and full of ambiguity and mystery that yields fresh nuances of visual experience with each viewing. To me, abstract art comprises a rich, multi-dimensional experience because it doesn't cater to the constraints of time and place. The new visual experience it presents is of value in and of itself, and does not require a literal meaning in the usual sense. As a matter of fact, it may call on the viewer to be a more active participant in the viewing, because it reaches beyond our usual scope of perception and lends itself to the subjective reality of each viewer. Art does not need to refer to political or religious ideologies, or even the continuum of human emotions and experience, to garner its meaning. It simply is, and therein lies its meaning. And to me, abstraction is very compelling in its visual (and emotional) richness.
As for the "skills" part of the equation, Kandinsky (among others) manifested a high level of both imagination and skill that many realists don't possess. I wanted to post some of his images to illustrate the point of this post but because of copyright issues, had to use one of my own, instead.  Compelling abstraction is difficult to achieve, often involving both concept and great discipline that match or exceed many realist paintings.  

NOTE: I first wrote this as a response to a discussion on Robert Genn's Painter's Keys site.  You can read his original letter and the responses, including mine, here.  While you'e there, you might want to sign up for Robert's thought-provoking newsletter.  
All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my primary site at http://www.lyndalehmann.com/gallery if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog!

Silver Linings Trim the Sea

Silver Linings Trim the Sea - Image c Lynda Lehmann

Some views of nature invoke powerful feelings and there's not a word or set of words that will do them justice.  We know when we are witnessing scenes that speak to mysterious powers beyond our comprehension.  
I took a series of photos the other day on a beach on the south shore of Long Island, facing into the sun.  Photographically speaking, this is a no-no, especially without a good polarizing filter.  Since I had only my Nikon 7000 with me, I had to settle for its built in neutral density filter.  I simply could not pass up taking shots of the clouds and beach lit up in bangles of silver.  
Even the seagulls couldn't get over the drama in the western sky.
When clouds obscure your horizon, I wish you bright silver linings!

Witness to Clouds and Sea - Lynda Lehmann c 2011

All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my primary site at http://www.lyndalehmann.com/gallery if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog!

Firestorm: New Abstract Expressionist Painting to Benefit Japan

Firestorm - Image c 2011 Lynda Lehmann

I painted this piece last week, and I think it expresses my emotional response to recent events in Japan. In view of the ongoing devastation, grief and loss of the Japanese people, who have lost their homes, their towns and infrastructure and their loved ones, and who are facing the dire consequences of nuclear contamination, I will donate all profits from this painting to the American Red Cross Japan Fund. By that I mean all proceeds minus the fee (if any) due to whichever artist's site I may sell it on. Shipping is always the customer's responsibility. 

"Firestorm" is 22 x 28 inches, painted in acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas. It can be framed or hung without a frame. 

My price is $900.00.  By donating the proceeds of this painting to the people of Japan, I can afford to give a more sizable donation than I would otherwise make.  Maybe it will buy some clothing, food or drinking water for a family who has lost everything.

Let's pray for their comfort and healing, and for the nuclear nightmare they're faced with, to be adequately dealt with and over. As for the rest of humanity, I hope we'll learn to make better choices in our energy policy, and become more aware of the consequences of letting corporate interests and lobbyists push dangerous technologies. 

All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my primary site at http://www.lyndalehmann.com/gallery if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog!

Peony Pink and the Ides of Plutonium

Peony Pink - Image c 2011 Lynda Lehmann

Spring solstice has arrived!  This tender season is usually regarded as a time to rejoice at life's beauty and renewal.  Life is precious.  It is also delicate and perishable, and not at all guaranteed.  It's a gift and a miracle, with or without a religious perspective to cast it in.  I present to you a photo of a delicate Peony as a reminder of life's fragility, as the towns on the Northeast coast of Japan and well inland, struggle for their very survival. 
I will continue to wish, hope and pray for the Japanese people to find comfort, solace and the support of the world community in their healing from this week's multiple tragedies. I also wish, hope and pray for all of us to achieve freedom from the nuclear monster. The lethal potential of isotopes with a half life of 25,000 years or more, makes nuclear energy a Pandora's box of potential for the destruction of Life.  I think the world is finally recognizing that a technology that can't be controlled or adequately addressed with solutions and fail-safes, should not be used. Plutonium and cesium can exact a high price for the privilege of turning on a hair-dryer or the central heating system.
If you're not familiar with the specifics of nuclear energy and how it's produced, and what radiation can do to all living things, you might want to read the books of Dr. Helen Caldicott, the Australian physician who researched and campaigned against the nuclear demon. She saw the contradiction of ministering to a few sick children while the nuclear monster grew in the background and cast a shadow over all of life on Earth. If you think I'm being dramatic, read "Nuclear Madness" or "Missile Envy," among others.  And read other sources if you like, as I did, to corroborate the information she presents.
Let's pray for the government of Japan to mobilize their Air Force and call on other countries for help in burying the distressed and very dangerous radiation-spewing nuclear reactors with sand and concrete, before they pour more poison into our atmosphere, to rain down on the seas that are at the base of our food chain and settle on our precious land, water, and all living beings.  
Physicist Michio Kaku suggested this solution, which was successfully used to limit further contamination after the Chernobyl disaster. Given the miserable condition of the plants, it's the only solution.  Incidentally, Dr. Kaku suggested that where alternatives are available, using nuclear energy is like selling one's soul "to the devil," as Christopher Marlowe's doomed fictional character Doctor Faustus did.
Personally I'm for going in other directions, as the feasibility of safe-use for nuclear, is doubtful, at best. It's never been more obvious that nuclear power is just too dangerous to fill our energy needs, and we need to make drastic changes to improve the technology and come up with real fail-safes.  Or we need to go in other directions.

If more funding went into R & D, even a fragment of what has gone into designing and building weapons systems, we could find alternatives. And since we in the USA use 25% of the world's energy, we need to learn to cut our use. If everyone conserved, including corporations, we could make a big dent in our usage. For example, we recently drove down a major Long Island road that is lined with the gorgeous buildings of corporate headquarters. I'm talking HUGE modern buildings with too many offices to count. In most of these buildings, the lights were left on for the overnight hours. If the cleaning staff needed to clean, they didn't need every floor and cubby illuminated bright as day, at ten at night. It's just a small example--but it's my guess that the power those buildings consumed over one night, could power a small city for basic needs during the same period of time. 

Japan has long had Mag-Lev trains; we do not. Our mass transit systems are in disarray and our roads are a mess in many places. There are SO many things we can do to make travel easier and more fuel efficient. But we are spoiled and no one really wants to feel any pain at all, to facilitate change that will help us survive in the long run. As for nuclear, it's my opinion that no amount of physical/mechanical safeguards will make the technology failsafe, until we learn how to neutralize spent fuel, etc. 

There will always be the occasional natural disaster of unprecedented proportions. As advanced and organized as Japan society is, they did not give credence to the idea that the flooding of the shoreline plants could threaten their population, and maybe the larger human family. If plutonium becomes airborne because of an explosion, those particles will land and emit radiation willy-nilly for 25,000 years. 

So how does that advance the cause of human life, world peace, and the pursuit of happiness? Experts with a wider perspective on nuclear technologies are few and far between and of course, they are not willing to create a panic now by laying out worst-case scenarios. I don't know what we're going to do, but I know that nuclear weapons and nuclear power have the potential to put an end to life on earth. No one even talks about its mutagenic qualities, and ill-advised news-persons sometimes suggest that we can "wash it off" or take potassium iodide. They don't take into account or articulate the differences between alpha, beta and gamma particles, and how they move into the body and the permanent damage they can do. To me, getting rid of nuclear materials--except for medical applications--seems like a survival imperative for our species.

All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my primary site at http://www.lyndalehmann.com/gallery if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog!

New Abstract Painting: Byzantine Blues

Byzantine Blues - Lynda Lehmann c 2011

"Byzantine Blues" is one of my recent series of small paintings, just 11 x 14 inches.  It's one of those paintings whose name seemed to arise out of the ether as I finished it.  While my title does not really fit the definition of Byzantine, I still like it for this work.  Since it's my painting, I guess I can call it whatever I wish!  One of the added joys of making art is the freedom to associate ones image with words and name it thus. That is, to see an image in your own unique way.  

The viewer too, is called upon to see whatever he or she wishes, and that is the freedom that is inherent in the ambiguity and mystery of abstract art.  Although the bottom line is that titles are not at all necessary to the visual experience, especially of abstraction, and may even detract from the viewer's freedom to see it in his or her own way.
Dictionary.com defines "Byzantine" as follows:
4.  Fine Arts . pertaining to or designating the style of the fine or decorative arts developed and elaborated in the Byzantine Empire  and its provinces: characterized chiefly by an ecclesiastically prescribed iconography, highly formal structure, severe confinement of pictorial space to a shallow depth, and the use of rich, often sumptuous color.
You can see that this painting does not resemble the "ecclesiastically prescribed iconography," of Byzantine Art at all, although the confinement of pictorial space to a shallow depth and the use of rich color, may apply.  You can read more about the Byzantine Empire at Wiki.  
Why have I just written several paragraphs to outline why my title doesn't really fit my image? The answer is that creative process is messy.  It doesn't conform to the parameters of logic or conscious thought. It's not rational. And that's what makes the journey interesting.
Although I appreciate the beautifully rendered realism of masters such as Da Vinci or John Singer Sargent, my preferred style of painting is abstract.  What is your favorite style, when it comes to making or appreciating art?

All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my primary site at http://www.lyndalehmann.com/gallery if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog!

New Abstract Painting: Pragmatic Red

Pragmatic Red - c 2011 Lynda Lehmann

The other day I set out to do a subtle painting. As you can see, I failed miserably.

When I paint, what happens most often is that the paint takes over and tells me what to do. Not literally, of course. The paint doesn't have a voice. But it speaks to me through it's character as it emerges out of the tube. Color, consistency, and (unfortunately) smell, all stir my senses into an excitement as real as if I were watching a horse race or awakening as a child does on Christmas morning, heart aflutter and with a gleam of happy expectation in her eyes. I begin to paint and the volitional part of the process gives way to the subconscious, intuitive part.

So here you have my most recent result, in this 18 x 24 inch acrylic painting that I'll call "Pragmatic Red."  The title is a bit of an oxymoron, as there's really nothing practical about creating such a bright and intense painting. It's done for the joy and fulfillment of the artist and for whomever is willing as a viewer, to embrace his or her kind of work.

An intricate under-painting shows through the surface, a sort of "iconography" showing through the top layer. An artist friend said the image reminds him of a "mother board."  I'll go with that for today. That's the nice part about abstract art: you can see something different in it each time you look. Different from realism, in which the specifics of time, place and context are spelled out for the viewer, the abstract engages the viewer's imagination and calls forth a more active participation. What might this painting represent, if anything? Or is it a visual experience that can't be classified?

Actually, it's simply "The Visual Experience" that I'm after in my pursuit of painting. As long as it's fresh and new, it can bring stimulation, surprise, and visual joy to my world.  

Dictionary.com defines Constructivism as follows: 

–noun ( sometimes initial capital letter )

1.Fine Arts . a nonrepresentational style of art developed by agroup of Russian artists principally in the early 20th century,characterized chiefly by a severely formal organization of mass, volume, and space, and by the employment of modern industrial materials. Compare suprematism.


While I often paint in a style that might fall under the category of Expressionism, I would say that this piece could be seen as a sort of embellished Constructivism. But the label doesn't matter. It's the Visual Experience that counts!

Most of us enjoyed looking through kaleidoscopes of different sorts when we were kids. To me, painting is the same kind of exploration of the visual phenomenon. I do it in the spirit of adventure--and the willful abandonment of the more mundane aspects of my daily world.

What attracts your eye in the spirit of exploration and childlike joy?

All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my primary site at http://www.lyndalehmann.com/gallery if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog!

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Ice Abstract: Nature's Subtle Palette and Dynamic Design

Ice Abstract - c 2011 Lynda Lehmann

Nature never fails to fascinate.  In every season, in every kind of weather, at every time of day, intricate patterns and textures captivate the eye.  My prize for walking the beach on a bitter cold day last week, besides almost-frozen toes, was this view of cracked ice along the side of the road.  I think it makes a beautiful abstract.  
I'm forever marveling at how accidental arrangements can be so arresting and gorgeous.  The Earth's natural processes produce patterns, textures and designs that outdo the best capabilities of the human hand and eye.  
What have you seen in your locale this week, that made you feel blessed with the serendipitous beauty of nature's grand design?

All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission. All rights reserved. Please visit my primary site at http://www.lyndalehmann.com/gallery if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog!

Ponderosity: From My New Series of Small Abstract Expressionist Paintings

Ponderosity - Lynda Lehmann c 2011

An artist friend recently told me that she likes my black and white paintings and I had to ponder on the appeal of black and white.  

I've always loved design and I think painting in black and white gives a very graphic allure and perhaps a stronger design/compositional sense than using color.  Using color most often makes the color the "truth" of the painting, at least for those of us whose wild color-love becomes unleashed when we dip our brushes (or other tools) into lush pigments.
This small painting on gallery-wrapped canvas measures 11 by 14 inches, and except for a few linear brush strokes applied at the end, was done with a palette knife. 
According to Dictionary.com "ponderosity" is a related form of "ponderous," an adjective which means:

1.

of great weight; heavy; massive.

2.

awkward or unwieldy: He carried a ponderous burden on hisback.

3.

dull and labored: a ponderous dissertation.

Here's wishing you an artful day.  May nothing too ponderous come your way!
Note:  I'm aware that I have a code glitch or two on my page, and I'll eventually figure out how to fix it!
All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my primary site at http://www.lyndalehmann.com/gallery if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog!

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In Silence Lies Beauty: Gesture and Lace in a Snowy Forest

Gesture and Lace - Image c 2011 Lynda Lehmann

Hermann Melville said, "God’s one and only voice is silence."  Somehow I agree.  It's only in moments of silence that we can even begin to grasp the magnitude of the beauty all around us and the profound miracle of every day.


A snow-shrouded forest is a great place to experience the joy and fullness of silence.  Why is silence full?  Because silence allows us the space to let go of conscious thoughts, goals, and all the usual preoccupations that we carry around with us from day to day.  Silence gives us a moment of pause in which we may become aware of our own Being.  In silence, we own ourselves; we own the moment.  Silence lets us "be," if Being is what we want.
Silence asks nothing of us but to befriend her.  Silence will not ask us to defend ourselves.  Silence is forgiving.  She is a balm to our souls.  
Silence is not Golden, but she is buoyant, transparent and transforming.  Listen to Silence if you want to find your Heart.
I was astounded with the beauty of the forest on this bone-chilling day when I walked with my husband at a nearby state park. The landscape was frozen and rigid in the vice-grip of winter.  Yet the trees maintained their winding and undulating forms, held on to their grace under the assault of bitter cold and high winds.  Because the temperature has been so low this week, little melting has taken place, even on the blacktop that usually warms in the midday sun.  

Snow Berries - Image c 2011 Lynda Lehmann

There was so much to see in this transformed land of delicate lace-work and graceful forms: the rolling hills, the frosted berries and dancing trees.  The contrast of bright white snow clinging to twigs, trunks and branches against a background of afternoon shadows, really brought out the beauty of the arbor.  When we left I was again replete again with nature's beauty, though my toes were nearly frozen.
I love silence.  But I know some folks find silence tedious or even frightening.  Do you look forward to moments of silence or do you find yourself avoiding it?

Together in Beauty - Image c 2011 Lynda Lehmann

All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my primary site at http://www.lyndalehmann.com/gallery if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog!

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A Dog's Life and The Ides of December

It's a Dog's Life

Please Don't Make Me Go Out in The Snow Again!

I'll Be Good, I Promise!

I'm giving December the boot!  What a month.  It started with my husband getting the flu, which lasted for well over a week.  His ended, then I promptly came down with the same stuffed head with aches, fever and chills.  Then the tumult of the holidays set in, and our daughter and son-in-law arrived 3 days before Christmas with their 95 pound over-sized pooch.

On Christmas Eve we went to a family gathering which because of logistics, we had catered for the first time this year.  Right after the party and with a blizzard fast approaching, we drove daughter and hubby to the airport for their long-awaited trip to Galapagos. The long-anticipated trip was to be their joyous, albeit-late honeymoon, coming a few months after their July wedding.

No sooner did my husband and I arrive home after the round-trip to JFK in Christmas Day traffic, but the first of several phone calls came in.  The flight was leaving at midnight, without them!  To make a long story short, the airline had overbooked their flight.  So they spent the night in the airport, and flew out around 4:00 in the morning.

They arrived on their tour a day late, after four or five unscheduled plane changes, no sleep at all, carrying heavy LONG backpacks that I couldn't have managed for even five minutes.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we had all gotten food poisoning! At least 12 people who had assembled from different households, took ill a few hours after the family Christmas party.  And  to confirm my worst expectations, daughter and her hubby puked their way across South America, all the way to the Galapagos. It was Gatorade and Pepto-Bismol, all the way. On top of all that stress and exhaustion.

I was sick for the second time in a month, the blizzard was thick around us, we had to push their hyperactive Rhodesian Ridgeback hound  out the door by her butt because she did not want to go out into the snow, and we worried all week about the kids being sick and strung out on their travels.

Gran'dogger is adorable but totally ornery.  She commanded all our attention for the week they were gone; it was all we could do to keep up with her antics.  When she had properly anointed every inch of our hitherto pristine yard with abundant pee and poop and given us the run-around several times, refusing to come in when called while we watched helplessly from the deck with empty leash in hand, we knew we were outwitted by the willful canine.

She wouldn't come in from the yard even when bribed with teaspoonsful of her favorite peanut butter, but managed to lick just enough off the spoon to taunt us before she whirled out of reach. We stood and watched in awe as she tore across the yard 30-40 times without tiring, flying like a Greyhound and leaving new track marks around a few choice trees and shrubs, tossing the outdoor mat with a vengeance, and even trying to pull a mature Yew out of the ground by its roots!

So goodbye, December!  Glad to see you go....  And goodbye, Gran'dogger, and please don't come back to stay with us again for at least a year!

All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my primary site at http://www.lyndalehmann.com/gallery if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog!

A Magical, Mesmerizing Meditation for the New Year: The Fantasy Art of Sara Deutsch

Now that the busy holiday season is past, we could all do with a few moments of quiet contemplation.  Sara Deutsch is a very talented, prolific and passionate artist friend whom I met a few years back at one of the online artist's sites/communities.  I've always loved her beautiful, fanciful and imaginative work.  To me Sara is all artist: a woman of gentle soul who immerses herself in myriad creative activities and loves to share her love of life and the universe with others.  You can view more of her magical and whimsical work in her portfolio.

Here's how Sara describes herself and her work in her bio.
"Sara Deutsch is a visionary artist who focuses on creativity as a healing force and the computer as a mystic friend who lets her paint with light, and leads her into the heart of nature and the infinite wisdom of the Spirit.  Each painting is a blind date with the Unknown as she listens to the heart and the mood and color of  the moment.  Sara's life journey led her into many worlds. She trekked alone in the Himalayas for 18 months, and lived in virgin jungles of Hawaiian Islands, eating fruit and wild vegetables.  She draws upon doctoral study in Psychobiology and East/West Psychology, years in a  contemplative order, cross-cultural adventures, multimedia explorations. and  26 years offering Creative Arts Therapy, arts in education workshops and expressive arts college classes."
Sara, thanks for sharing your very creative and lyrical vision with the world!  Watching your video today brought me some welcome respite from the frenetic pace of December.  You can't change the cold weather, but you can warm hearts!

All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my primary site at http://www.lyndalehmann.com/gallery if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog!