JEANNE ILLENYE ...Looking Up!

2010 is nearly over and...

Oh...every January when facing the huge span of a new year, I have a renewed spirit and huge ambitions. Now it's nearly October and I am for the first time revisiting this blog that has remained stagnant for over two years, only to read about the freshness and excitement for pursuing ethereal landscapes with the realization that commission work has once again pulled me in other directions. Even my beloved still lifes have been put on the back burner most of the year while I've been fulfilling orders for pet portraits. I guess I fell short again this year of my artistic goals but am grateful nevertheless for the support and following of my wonderful clients and fellow artists! Thank you! Perhaps this blog will become active in years to come. In the meantime, please visit my website, still life blog, pet portraits blog.

5x5 inches oil on panel

SOLD

Moving from landscapes into abstract expressionism is similar to the stream of consciousness style of writing. Abstract expressionism is a form of art which captures the essence of something. For me this year, it will be the colors of the seasons. This has been a purely intuitive process and one which I find very liberating. Look for titles such as, “The Color of the Wind” and “Fragrant Earth” and “The Sound of the Rain”. It’s a very exciting concept and I can’t wait to delve into it. These abstracts will initially be of small format, but would be particularly powerful statements in very large proportions on canvas, available on a commission basis.

DUST

Here is a problem, a wonder for all to see.
Look at this marvelous thing I hold in my hand!
This is a magic surprising, a mystery
Strange as a miracle, harder to understand.
What is it? Only a handful of earth: to your touch
A dry rough powder you trample beneath your feet,
Dark and lifeless; but think for a moment how much
It hides and holds that is beautiful, bitter or sweet.
Think of the glory of color! The red of the rose,
Green of the myriad leaves and the fields of grass,
Yellow as right as the sun where the daffodil blows,
Purple where violets nod as the breezes pass.
Think of the manifold form, of the oak and the vine,
Nut and fruit, and cluster, and ears of corn;
Of the anchored water-lily, a thing divine,
Unfolding its dazzling snow to the kiss of morn.
Think of the delicate perfume borne on the gale,
Of the golden willow catkin’s odor of spring,
Of the breath of the rich narcissus waxen-pale,
Of the sweet pea’s flight of flowers, of the nettle’s sting.
Strange that this lifeless thing gives vine, flower, tree,
Color and shape and character, fragrance too;
That the timber that builds the house, the ship for the sea,
Out of this powder its strength and its toughness drew!
That the cocoa among the palms should suck its milk
From this dry dust, while dates from the self-same soil
Summon their sweet rich fruit: that our shining silk
The mulberry leaves should yield to the worm’s slow toil.
How should the poppy steal sleep from the very source
That grants to the grapevine juice that can madden or cheer?
How does the weed find food for its fabric course
Where lilies proud their blossoms pure uprear?
Who shall compass of fathom God’s thought profound?
We can but praise, for we may not understand;
But there’s no more beautiful riddle the whole world round
Than is hid in this heap of dust I hold in my hand.

--Celia Thaxter (1835-1894)

2010 is nearly over and...

country road in summertime

Caribbean Breezes

Duck Family - First Venture on the Pond

Breaking Through -- A Brook in the Snow

Deer on a Snowy Ridge

Cornfields in the Snow

Tropical Dreams

Glints of Sun on a Snowy Mountaintop

Reflections on the Lake

FIND ME ON . . .

ALL CONTENT COPYRIGHT PROTECTED JEANNE ILLENYE

DUST

PROTECT ANIMAL RIGHTS