Sleeping Giants

Posted on March 5, 2021 by naomisilverart — 4 Comments

Many people may feel like they have gone into some sort of sleep mode or hibernation over the past year due having their lives curtailed to one degree or another thanks to the pandemic. For months, my productivity in the studio was zilch due to the stress, anxiety and sheer shock at what was happening. But in recent months, I’ve found myself in the studio almost every day, in my own little world where everything else is secondary.

Still painting seated on the floot. I just can’t wrap my head around using an easel. 😮

Speaking of sleep or hibernation, my most recent paintings are titled “Sleeping Giants.” The paintings came about because a collector started talking about a finger painting he wanted based on time he had spent in Silverton, Colorado. So I went online and found an image of the San Juan mountains near Silverton, fell in love with a photo I found, and did these paintings (the commission is on hold for now). I couldn’t come up with a title, so I posted on Instagram asking if anybody had any ideas, and my friend and talented singer Elleven suggested “Sleeping Giants.” I think it fits these paintings perfectly because the white shapes look like giants in the mountains. Or perhaps the mountains, themselves, are the giants. 😊

I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe and sane. Naomi

Refuge from the cold.

Posted on February 19, 2021 by naomisilverart — 1 Comment

I’m sure many of you can relate when I say I’m kind of been there done that with cold weather. We have much to be grateful for- all we’ve had to worry about was a dead car battery and one semi-frozen house in the pipe that we easily thawed after running the water for a few minutes. I absolutely love winter and I act like a five year old in the snow, but this has been a bit much!

I love the shadows cast by the sun on a beautiful blanket of snow.

Luckily, I can retreat to my studio with the Christmas lights, the basil plants, and my cozy rug and the outside world pretty much disappears.

How is everybody else coping with this crazy winter?

Hope you are all doing well. Stay warm, stay safe and stay sane. Naomi

Tagged with: art, artist studio, landscape painting, minimalism, mountain painting, mountains, winter
Posted in 2021 paintings

Cascade (2020)

Posted on February 12, 2021 by naomisilverart — 2 Comments

One of 5 or so paintings based on a friend’s photo of Mt. Rainier in Washington State. I finished this painting about a year ago, in February of 2020.

The painting hanging on my pretend exposed brick wall over my pretend couch. 😉

Tagged with: art, black and white, landscape painting, minimalism, minimalist, mountain painting, Mt. Rainier, painting
Posted in 2020 paintings

Has it really been over a year???!!!

Posted on February 4, 2021 by naomisilverart — 3 Comments

OMG, I had no idea it had been over a year since my last post! I’ll just blame it on the pandemic and/or politics, just like everything else. Lol

So no surprise I’ve continued to paint, what else, but mountains. I’ve spent the last year refining my technique. These paintings may look simple, but just interpreting a 3D photo into a 2D painting that still looks like a 3D mountain is tricky. And it’s taken hours and hours of painting to figure out which brushes work the best and then get the hang of creating both very sharp lines as well as a painting that’s as smooth as possible. And I’m still learning with every session in the studio. Which is good because otherwise what would be the point, right?

So here is one of my favorites from 2020, a commission for a good friend. He is one of the best lute players/experts in St. Louis (if not in the country), so I told him I’d like to see the painting titled with something related to music. He gave me a few suggestions and I chose “Stretto.” If you don’t know what stretto means (I didn’t), click here.

I based “Stretto” on a photo of the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming. I chose the photo, not having realized there is actually a lower mountain range in front of the other one. That took some finagling on my part. I hope you can see a little bit of the lower range in the front.

So again, my apologies for being such a slacker and I promise to post on a more regular basis! Hope everyone is doing well and staying safe and sane!

Naomi