To paint is to dream

Don’t be an art critic, but paint, there lies salvation.
Paul Cezanne

My artwork has increasingly become over the years an act of catharsis. But lately it has become more illustrative of stories that I alone can see. I have had images of situations and conversations that will become my first novel. I start with an image in my head and the situation just before, during and after that image are simply there in my head, waiting to be written. After I write the scene, I then work on the illustration that inspired it. Ultimately I don’t know how this artwork will be used with the novel but its seems to be all tied together for me.

I decided to start posting pictures of my old artwork and as I finish the illustrations for my book I’ll post those too. Today’s picture is one I did over 20 years ago. The media is watercolor and oil pastels. The technique of speckling in the sky was achieved with a fairly wet wash of color and a sprinkling of rock salt. It’s a exciting technique that I will use again.

copyright retained by Tina M. Rhodes