The life of a woman artist hitting her stride!

Archive for January, 2014

“The Heart of the Conversation” series continued

This idea occurred to me while in church. Someone was speaking about how whatever is in our heart comes out of our mouth. Or who we are INSIDE will show up eventually on our OUTSIDE. I drifted into thinking about the prickly thorns on a cactus coming from the integrity of the cactus to produce those prickly thorns. Does a cactus have a thorny heart? What if the cactus was a man…would the hurtful thorns he spewed be evidence of an unsympathetic heart? A missing heart? Wouldn’t it be interesting to actually know where thoughts are drifting off to among the congregationalists at church, lol?!

The sketch in my journal for the painting, "Missing The Heart of the Conversation".

The sketch in my journal for the painting, “Missing The Heart of the Conversation”.

The final painting, a 9 x 12 inch oil on board. "Missing The Heart of the Conversation".

The final painting, a 9 x 12 inch oil on board. “Missing The Heart of the Conversation”.


“The Heart of the Conversation” series

I have heard that a great movie, an important book, a political strategy can come from notes jotted down on a napkin at lunch. Since strokes of ideas can come at unexpected moments, if not captured, the idea might disappear into the already flooded corridors of the brain, perhaps, to be lost. A popular place for me to have a “stroke of an idea” has been at church, sitting in the relative quiet and contemplating the cosmos. Being an artist those ideas have become scattered sketches, doodles, and drawings in my journals and engagement calendars. For years I have entertained turning those ideas into colorful visuals or stories. Last year I marked, copied, and gathered all those scattered visuals into a central binder. Then in July of 2013 I began to paint them. Because they are from my imagination the style approach is much more stylized than my regular approach to painting which is more to the impressionistic/realism side. As I painted I had such feelings of joy and peace that I knew I had stepped over the threshold of a door into full self-expression. The first one was “Holy Cow!”. The sketch was made in my journal on the day that I sold four paintings and found out I didn’t have cancer anymore. That became my annual “Yee-Haa!” Day, November 15. As others followed I needed a name for the series. “The Heart of the Conversation” was born from a conversation with my daughter, Katie, who gave me the name suggestion: “Missing The Heart of the Conversation” for the second one. How appropriate to these images which are a visual “play” on words. Visit my website http://dilleenmarsh.com/to see more of this series. Enjoy…as I am.

I jotted this sketch in my journal as I recorded the day I sold four paintings and found out I didn't have cancer anymore.

I jotted this sketch in my journal as I recorded the day I sold four paintings and found out I didn’t have cancer anymore.

The finished product is a 9 x 12 inch oil on board.

The finished product is a 9 x 12 inch oil on board.