Spring Landscapes #16, #17, #18

Spring Landscape #16 April, 12" x 6" oil on panel

Spring Landscape #17 Magnolia Trees, 12" x 12" oil on panel

Spring Landscape #18 Three Clouds, 24" x 18", oil on panel

Did you know that the whopping majority of painters are insulted if you call their work "pretty"? You don't have to tell me that's what these are. It is a sort of trouble to me.

"Beautiful" is much more acceptable. The difference? The dictionary defines "pretty" as "attractive to the eye" and the noun, "pretties" refers to the ornamental. Even more so, painters HATE their work considered ornamental, decorative, the insinuation being that the work has little substance beyond looking good. It's the equivalent of a trophy wife. Beauty is also defined as being delightful to see, but under synonyms the dictionary says this:

A person or thing that is beautiful has perfection of form, color, etc., or noble and spiritual qualities: a beautiful landscape, a beautiful woman. Handsomeoften implies stateliness or pleasing proportion and symmetry: a handsome man. Pretty implies a moderate but noticeable beauty, esp. in that which is small or of minor importance: a pretty child.

Beauty refers to a "perfection of form", i.e. a Platonic ideal and something that may have spiritual qualities. This is much better. Pretty is diminutive "that which is small or of minor importance."

I know my recent work, especially these paintings, is pleasing to the eye but it falls more within "beautiful" as it strives to reflect the spiritual (interconnectedness of all things esp. through nature, the lift of happiness in a sunny day and in color). The harmony and balance achieved through design sense is a kind of ideal.

Even the sunniest day might bring physical discomfort regarding temperature, a bird could poop on you, or sand might blow in your eyes. The paintings are landscapes viewed from a little distance, like photographs of sentimental moments. There is a preciousness about them. Beauty is transitory; we attempt to retain our youthful appearance but the paintings freeze it. Ideals, they show a benchmark like a Best in Show beagle. The paintings aren't just superficial beauty (I'm sure you're getting this by now) but also are about an essence of truth, of meaning made tangible. But I want them to delight, dazzle. I want them to elevate mood, elevate hope, confirm good in life like someone saying "Good morning" in contrast to a car bombing. Small things matter, a piece of paint, a speck. A friend, a wife of a pastor, recently gave a guest sermon in which she spoke about the anonymous people involved in building a cathedral. She compared the labor, the small acts of individuals as metaphors for the unseen good we do daily to support one another. These paintings are for you in the trenches.