Stimulus in Paint

Today I took down an exhibit of 15 paintings from Art Path, Burlington. Always mixed feelings getting paintings back home. I do have the anticipation of the sale of "Stimulus" this coming Sunday morning when I meet up with the woman who has claimed this piece. I celebrated by purchasing some new oil paints to help the inspiration and I hung some of the paintings in the Museum building at Camp Meade. We will be announcing a show there soon.

I am including here a piece of writing I did for the Art Path show way back in April. Seems so long ago and don't know why I didn't post it then....I have been coming to a greater understanding of this blog thing....

STIMULUS IN PAINT
paintings in oil, wax, and collage by Maggie Neale of Color Musings

Color and painting have always held my attention. 40 years ago I was studying painting in Bowling Green University in Ohio. My senior year I had a grand opportunity to paint in the stadium, slated for destruction later that spring. It was a stimulus to paint larger, more often, and with a freedon I had not yet understood. My sister posed for me in that hallway and I captured the distress she was feeling and what the building brought out in her. This painting has been part of my mother's collection until just this past month when her collection came back to me. Seeing this work again renews my painting drive...a stimulus in paint.

My painting situation has been minimized for the past several years with no studio use. My paintings are smaller when painted in a crowded kitchen. But the urge to make larger, more expressive work is again with me and I have just committed to a 6 month painting stimulus plan which is so exciting.

Ah, stimulus comes in many flavors. The painting I did in January 2009 called Stimulus was considered for the "SHOW US THE GREEN" exhibit at Studio Place Arts, as we were all thinking of the Stimulus package to be delivered. For me, stimulus comes from within and can not really be "solved" by covering the problem with money.

My paintings are abstract expressions to some. To me they are explorations of my energy and internal vibrations, my feelings as I journal my way through a creative life. Though I can paint from life, I find I am more moved these days to paint from a life force.