Painting Islands

 Ok, it’s time to put it all together!  My art work and

New Island

are one.

It says “We are one.” on the

New

Island

one-roger coin, which is the slogan of the country. I guess that means all the parts of my work too.

I’ve been painting scenes I’d like to see most of my life. I love to imagine things then draw them out or paint them as detailed as possible. I grew up in small towns on the

Southern California

coast and was enchanted by the ocean, big surf, the beach, and the nature-loving, laid-back lifestyle. I learned to draw things I wanted to see, everything from tsunamis, explosions, storm-driven surf to snow-covered mountains and pretty girls.  Ever since, I’ve wanted to capture certain beaches, landforms, small towns, older houses, and the woman-who-dances, and have painted these from memories, dreams, and from images of actual places and people. When my customers used to ask me where these places are, I could only say they are imagined…maybe somewhere in California, maybe Oregon, maybe Ireland, or even South Africa.

Eventually I envisioned an island in the south

Indian Ocean

as the location for these drawings and paintings. It emerged as a large, hilly island with a mild, rather dry climate, a friendly English-speaking population that loves nature, and is only sparsely-populated. The idea started with the watercolor below, titled “Dancing on the Edge” done in 1989. I looked at it and wondered where this place was and why was she dancing. So I looked in a world atlas for a place with a climate similar to Southern California’s, that was far from the USA, and that might have a culture that encourages dancing just for the joy in it.

The

South Indian Ocean

is a region that was not fully explored until the early19th century. So an island there could have gone unnoticed until, by chance, ships bearing Australia-bound prisoners from

Britain

might have been blown ashore by storms, allowing a unique culture to flourish there, even under Russian rule beginning in 1820. (You’ll have to read the

New

Island

guidebook to get the whole story…)

So the woman is dancing for Joy, or it’s a meditation, or she’s doing it just for the hell of it. The sun is out, the breeze is fresh, the waves are pounding with a hypnotic rhythm, and the weather might change any minute…

The Wave Dance No. 2   Watercolor, done in 2000
Top: The one-roger coin, common currency of New Island

Comments

[Andrea]

I think this problem is not completly solved.
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