I was inspired, in my feverish state, by the post at Socks and Books about their excursion to a rock museum as well as the awe-inspiring rocky landscapes at Short on Words. I've always admired and collected rock. They are infinitely unique in color, size, texture, and pattern. Rocks have made their way into my house and into my art quite often.
You may recall the vignette I set up before Christmas using rocks we had collected in Canada. Over time the little set-up had become rather dusty and the pine needles had lost their rust coloring. So, I re-purposed the rocks and moss to create a new vignette in our pass-through area between the kitchen and great room. Shawn likes to use this area to draw his maps (which I will share with you in another post) and I thought he might like a tiny picturesque landscape in his drawing nook.
Some of the rocks were used in the nook, others now enhance the lovely table-top fountain Julia gave me for Christmas. When rocks are wet, they are at their best. The colors sing and the surface glows.
Our greatroom is full of rocks! Here are some small compositions I shot within the larger framework of some of my paintings that hang in that room.
Humans have been painting rocks and painting on rocks since the earliest know art. Rocks have been both painted on and painted with in the form of crushed minerals mixed with animal fat. From the Lascaux Cave paintings in France, to the open air rock engravings in Norway, people have chosen rocks as a source for artwork because of their permanence, availability, and of course their beauty.
If you've been inspired by rocks as I have and would like to try your hand at drawing some of the rocks around you, here is a rock drawing tutorial I found at eHow.
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4 comments:
When it comes to rocks in the head, it's you and me both sister, you and me both. The headache finally has eased a bit, but man was that a bad one! The sinus-cold thing is a bit better, I am hoping it will be gone before the kids and I fly to California Thursday. Flying with this head wouldn't be fun.
I hope you are getting rest and feeling better.
LB, off to take a nap.
Lisa!!
What a fun post. I love both your vignette (which I meandered over to see) and your repurposed rocks. They're lovely, as are both your paintings.
We spent the weekend "camping" (or trying, anyway) in Joshua Tree (which the boys cutely renamed Rock World when we first went a couple years back). The rocks there are simply astounding - huge, piled abundantly and precariously on top of each other, and EVERYWHERE. Definitely NOT the kind you can bring home and paint with nail polish! ;-)
Blessings, Susan
Your paintings are beautiful. I spend most of my time on beaches with my head done picking up anything that catches my eye. Now I am a bit older I have realised that most of the magic is gone from the pebbles when they are taken from the water. There are still a few which I cannot resist however.
I love the way your paintings retain that magic in the rocks.
Rocks! One of my favorite subjects. My favs tend to be sharp edged pieces of flint. We used to live near a canyon in the panhandle of Texas, home of some lovely red flint. After a walk or a ride on my horse, my pockets were always full of souveniers.
Nice landscape you created. Feel better soon.
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