What a Wonderful Surprise!

Today I opened the link to EmptyEasel.com,  This is an important site for all artists. Their tag line is "We are an online artist community sharing ways to create and sell art." If you haven't checked it out, you should.

 I clicked on the site and much to my surprise I found a wonderful review of my work. That was a happy surprise.

Silent, Beautiful Figure Paintings by Ezshwan Winding
By Dan in Featured Artists > Oil Paintings

 Ezshwan Winding is an incredibly talented artist  with over 60 years of painting experience (and over 9 years of teaching workshops).  Her extensive online portfolio showcases both her abstracts and figurative pieces, most often in oil or encaustic.

As beautiful as her abstracts are, however, today I’m going to focus solely on her figure paintings, and their amazing quality of silent communication.
A Moment in Time, above, is a perfect example of Ezshwan’s ability to somehow capture exactly what makes us human with just oil paint and brush. There’s no movement, no words, no music. . . and in fact, none of that is necessary.

I can still feel the moment, as if I was standing right there.
The model’s face is half-turned, one cheek resting on a languid hand as she slowly collapses into sleep. Her body is supported by the edge of a table, bunching her shirt at the shoulder while her arms and wrists sway in complete, silent, relaxation.

I feel my own shoulders relax, as I explore this painting. Maybe yours will too.

And Ezshwan’s other paintings are all just as full of quietly expressive moments just like that. . . Transformation #4 follows the dance of several green and gold butterflies, arranged just so around a woman’s face.

Clearly she is in motion as well. . . becoming something new; changing, transforming, her eye steadily regarding the future she desires.

Lastly, Transformed by Silence is possibly my favorite. The colors are especially vibrant; a wonderful contrast of orange and blue, warm and cool, with a patterned texture that blends the idea of abstraction with the truth of realism.

Just take a minute to relax, and breathe, and enjoy this painting. It’s worth it.

Then visit Ezshwan’s website to view more of her gorgeous work. http://www. ezshwan.com

Placing Art

viewing room

studio at sunset

viewing room and stack filled

Today I finally was able to place art in the living room. Now I have art in all the downstairs rooms and the viewing room upstairs.

Also, it was important to me to make a pleasant outdoor scene. The yard had been sorely neglected for 3 years and the area on the side of the house can be seen from all the windows, that are really all French doors.

A couple of trips to Home Depot for plastic grass and white marble rocks along with lots of plants quickly made this section of the yard more pleasant. It has been a lot of physical work, but there now is a special place in the living room to rest and enjoy the view.

Cynthia is painting her huge bedroom and arranging her studio upstairs.

hallway

high ceiling can take a lot of art

A cozy spot for an afternoon rest

2 paintings fo the "Messengers" series

back year where there will be a lot of real grass

Getting better

Moving Is Not Fun!

I am getting too old for this! It feels as if we have been moving for weeks; perhaps because it has been 2 weeks of packing hundreds of paintings, many car loads and trips to the new house with my paintings and 2 days of the moving trucks going back and forth between the houses with the household stuff and many plants. The new location here in San Miguel de Allende feels like a community with parks, tranquility and much closer to town than the last house in the campo. Garbage collection here is 3 times a week. That may not be special for you, but when we moved out of the last house, the garbage was pilled up in front for almost 4 weeks.

I had great help with the transport of the paintings and just today the stacks have been stabilized and the paintings are being moved off the floor.

The new studio is half the size of the last one, so creative placement is necessary. I don't need all the tables any more since I no longer have workshops with 5 or 6 people. I am concentrating on teaching advanced encaustic techniques to serious artists who want to do more than just watch the wax melt and marbleize. There is lots of light and ventilation in the studio.

We have been unpacking and trying to find things for 5 days. With wonderful helpers everything should be in place, more or less in another week. I have been moving things around to achieve the right energy flow.

So far, this is where we are.

view from the front door

There will be plenty of gardening ahead for me. This is a great place for art.

One side of the living room. I look forward to hanging art soon so it feels like home

The paintings that are going in the stacks in what will be the viewing room