Art & Inspiration Blog

Can a painting show a mind — including your mind– at a moment of inspiration?

A sunset can be understood to represent a moment of inspiration and creation, as thoughts are actually things since they have mass and energy and can be measured.

Although in our culture we often comment that “the dawn has broken”, sunsets represent that idea more realistically. We tend to gain new, inspiring ideas or understandings, which are then followed by a period of germination and rest. The dawn can be understood as a kind of time of fulfillment when the new ideas and understandings become real and actionable.

For example, Jane and Joe have been thinking about creating an online way to add to their income. One day, Jane’s potato peeler breaks. She fashions a makeshift one from the old peeler and a tool she uses to sew with, which works better tan any potato peeler she ever had. John comes into the kitchen and sees her using her homemade peeler. He has a Eureka! of sunset moment when he quickly recognizes that if they get a patent and then manufacture this unique new peeler the may make a fortune– or at least enough to be able to quit their day jobs. Jane is also inspired by his vision for their future.

And then the sun sets on Jane and Joe. To fulfill their vision of their new future profitably selling potato peelers they must navigate through a less bright time, even a darker time, when they rest on their idea and also, behind the scenes perfect their prototype, patent it, discover how to manufacture their peeler in a cost effective way, and then deal with marketing, setting up distribution channels and dealing with order taking, shipping, advertising, etc. Joe and Jane have a lot of work to do, which will take time, before the dawn breaks and they can begin to reap the rewards (financial profit) from their idea.

In the Bible, a sunset is always a new beginning. This is true beginning with Genesis 1 and for all of Christendom continues to include the sunset death of Jesus, because that is really a new beginning.

The sunsets that I paint using Genesis 1-2:7 as strokes are always depicting a moment of inspiration, a new idea. As such they can be visually understood as symbolizing a mind at a moment of unique inspiration.

The shadows and darker trees, bushes, signs, windmills, etc., are a part of the structure that leads to or is a part of the new idea. For instance, all inventors have had to deal with the realities of the physical universe. The Wright brothers, Edison, Einstein saw the reality of the laws of the physical universe in a new way, and thus the previously seemingly impossible “miracles” of flight, light bulbs and atomic power are now common to us.

Many of the paintings in my Genesis: Sunrise-Sunset series have “frames” painted around the image area, which are often golden. They are placed a bit inside the background color, which then surrounds the outside of the frame. Sometimes the frame seems to hover within the edge of the image so the image continues past the painted frame. Why are they painted this way?

Watermill Sunset by Judy Rey Wasserman

Strokes: Genesis 1-2:7,Deut. 6:4, Psalm 18 frame

See larger version, available print and more information:  CLICK HERE

We “frame” our reality with our understandings, beliefs and prayers. Saying this another way, we know what we know, what we have been taught that we accept, what we believe because of experience, and what we can hope for as we can imagine it becoming reality.

For each of us individually and for society as a whole, there is much more beyond what we recognize or envision.

We are held in the boundaries unconscious and unexamined beliefs are often in conflict with other ideas that we have chosen intellectually, but struggle to make real on an emotional or deeper soul level. When confronted with the perception of a new reality, we sometimes use denial, until we can filter and process the new reality.

The gold of the frames denotes the outer boundaries where we are stretching to grow and encompass more understanding. The gold in the frames also symbolizes Prayer (hopes, affirmations, visualization, positive thinking by other names) as it helps us to create new and better beliefs, to believe in new possibilities for ourselves and others. Praying encourages our ability to consciously choose a new reality. When we pray for someone who is ill to recover we are acknowledging the illness, just by the very act of praying for recovery, since no one prays for the very healthy to recover. By praying we are visualizing the healing we want to occur.

For example, when Jane and Joe were first standing in their kitchen delighted with their bold idea for a new business, they affirmed that vision, and discussed the future that they could imagine, which was then framed by the knowledge and beliefs that they then had about starting a business. However, as they moved forward, their understandings and experience about how to create their business expanded. During times of stress, as they create their business they most likely will pray, or at least strongly hope for some “luck”.

Frames are usually created from the words of psalms, because psalms are prayers. Our reality is created by our beliefs and memories. We base our prayers, and our wants and hopes on these understandings. These beliefs may or may not be consciously held or chosen.

Prayer (affirmations, visualization, positive thinking by other names) helps us to create new and better beliefs, to believe in new possibilities for ourselves and others. Praying encourages our ability to consciously choose a new reality. When we pray for someone who is ill to recover we are acknowledging the illness, just by the very act of praying for recovery, since no one prays for the very healthy to recover. By praying we are visualizing the healing we want to occur.

By my reckoning, our prayers reach further into the ultimate, into the spiritual realms or heavens than any of our other thoughts or communications, since by the very act of being in prayer, which means communication, we are furthering our alignment with The Divine. The frames are in the paintings to depict and remind us that we consciously or unconsciously create the boundaries of our reality with our beliefs and that we are always able to reach The Divine, even when The Divine seems to be as far away as the edge of reality.

Dock Less Traveled by Judy Rey Wasserman

Strokes: Genesis 1-2:7,Deut. 6:4, Psalm 19 frame

See larger version, available print and more information: CLICK HERE

Money, like art, can be seen and understood as a power that can be used to transform our lives.

For instance, money transforms lives when it is used to pay for a life saving operation or vaccination program, when it supplies a soup kitchen with much needed food or when it brings water to people who have no drinkable water due to natural or industrial polluting causes. Hillel Jesus would have called this “doing onto others as you would have them do unto you”, or more simply feeding the poor and visiting the sick*.”

A sunset is always a promise of a new beginning according to Genesis chapter 1. The new day both ends with a sunset celebration and begins with that sunset inspiring the next creation (day).

“And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.” – Genesis 1:4-5

Like a sunset, money can be understood as a kind of new beginning, as a promise to be fulfilled.

Young children when given enough money in their hands to be able to actually purchase a toy often show us the excitement and wonderment of the transforming promise of money as they realize they can perhaps have almost anything – but not everything .

No one, not even the wealthiest person in the world can have everything that money can buy. We must choose. Creation and transformation, from Genesis until this very moment when you are reading this, always involve making a choice: this not that.

“Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one.” – Benjamin Franklin

Sometimes it seems that we lack the chance to make choices with our money as we can have so many bills, debts and expense necessities (like food, gas for our commutes, and clothes for the family). But at some point these were all choices we made and opportunities we selected or are selecting. With the money we have we get to chose to honor these choices and use the money that we have to transform both our lives and the lives of others.

“Time extracts various values from a painter’s work. When these values are exhausted the pictures are forgotten, and the more a picture has to give, the greater it is.” – Henri Matisse

Below is an image of a new Genesis Sunset – In God We Trust painting entitled, $100 Genesis Sunset Alpeh. Many of you are familiar with my Genesis Sunset series, but this image also is a part of the new In God We Trust series that deals with worth, and includes money.

“The use of money is all the advantage there is in having it.” – Benjamin Franklin

*Note: In the time of Jesus when visiting the sick meant going to clean up and take care of a sick person as there were no hospitals, nursing homes or visiting nurses. It meant working and providing, not simply bringing flowers or candy and having a nice visit.
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Judy Rey Wasserman is an artist and the founder of Post Conceptual Art theory and also the branch known as UnGraven Image Art. Download a free PDF copy (opens right up) click: Manifesto of Post Conceptual Art– A Painting’s Meaning is Inherent in its Stroke.
Check out the limited and open edition prints in the store.
Follow her on Twitter at @judyrey .

Thomas Jefferson   (April 13, 1743– July 4, 18 26) was an American Founding Father  who was the principal author of the and the third President of the United States.

This basic Essence Portrait of Thomas Jefferson, who fascinates me and I admire him greatly, although I do not always agree with him. His basic Essence Portrait is created with the symbol-strokes (original Torah font letters) I am using for the portraits of the presidents; Exodus 20, the Ten Commandments. However due to his wide range of interests and influence, there are many texts that certainly could also have been chosen.

There is little doubt that Jefferson was very familiar with the Bible and the Ten Commandments. His “self-evident” truths derive from biblical ideas that all men are equal before the law. As a plantation owner and slaveholder he was part of the ruling class, but Jefferson made profoundly significant contributions to the rise of anti-slavery constitutionalism in the United States. See the Wikipaedia article for more about Jefferson and slavery http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson_and_slavery.

I chose to portray the younger Jefferson, a more romantic figure who I can easily imagine impressing the Paris court on behalf of the colonies. Also, note how many, many strokes are obviously used , especially in his clothing. That is because Jefferson was a man of letters (symbolism not pun intended).

Exodus 20 – Ten Commandments (Thomas Jefferson Essence Portrait) by Judy Rey Wasserman

Learn how you can commission an Essence Portrait for you or a loved one Click – http://ungravenimage.com/portraitpaintingcommissions.php

See more basic Essence Portraits go Click http://ungravenimage.com/essenceportraitsbasic.php

Watch a video about the history of portraiture and the new Essence Portraits (basic and color variations) Click – http://ungravenimage.com/essencevideos.php

Vincent van Gogh was born March 30, 18 53 in Zundert, Netherlands. He is known as a Post-Impressionist painter, one of the best know artists world-wide and is credited for his influence on twentieth century art.

Vincent van Gogh has been my favorite artist and painter and now greatest artistic influence ever since I can remember.

Since I am founding Post Conceptual Art and a branch of that called as UnGraven Image (free download of manifesto in PDF format, click: here), van Gogh’s art clearly continues to influence art to our twenty-first Century.

The idea that a secular narrative (image) can convey religious or spiritual content stems from van Gogh. Vincent van Gogh’s father was a minister in the Duth Reformed Church. Later Vincent van Gogh had a stint as a missionary himself. He wanted people to view his paintings and feel his passion, and he was very passionate about God and His creation.

What makes an artist a “blue chip” artist is their influence on other artists, especially those who go on to also influence other artists. These ideas can later be found in the works of Kandinsky and Rothko, two of the artistic giants and influencers of the Twentieth century (and obviously me).

Psalm 113 — Vincent van Gogh (color #1) 2011, original tradigital print, by Judy Rey Wasserman

I hold that Warhol, who attended his church weekly all of his life, knew these ideas and artistically applied them to the landscape of his urban life, which was filled with news and commercial imagery made by human hands. My belief of this is backed by Warhol’s latter religious works, where he uses commercial brands, such as General Electric and Dove Soap, to symbolize divine light and the Holy Spirit.

At twelve years of age I was given a bus and then train pass, plus as a student I enjoyed free admission to all of the art museums in NYC. I spent most after school afternoons and weekends visiting them, most especially the Met and MoMA, and art galleries until I left college and the Art Student’s League. So, during my artistically formative years, I spent an inordinate amount of time, including many afternoons, simply looking at and studying van Gogh’s works.

At the Met I saw and learned that like Da Vinci, Rembrandt and J.M.W. Turner, van Gogh is a master of dualities. For me his later works burst with passion that at once expresses joy and glory along with pain and fury. As an adolescent, my life (and hormones) also raged with these seemingly disparate emotions, which The Cypresses and Sunflowers echoed, so I felt somehow heard and understood van Gogh in a way that no one else in my world managed to convey.

Van Gogh’s works also helped inspire my idea of using symbols (letters/numbers) for the strokes in a painting. At 8 or 9 years old, I was absent when the rest of my class learned Morse Code. I returned to take a test on it that I utterly failed but the class moved on. All I had was an introduction to the idea that dots and dashes could stand for letters, and to me the dots and dashes looked like the dots and dashes I was familiar with in van Gogh’s paintings. Since I could not read Morse Code, I never spoke of this to my Dad on our museum visits as he was a veteran who knew Morse Code, and my question would reveal my ongoing failure to learn it. For several years I actually thought van Gogh was somewhat painting in Morse Code.

As an adult, I have learned to see the “footprints” of the words of The Divine everywhere and always – even in the darkest moments. There is always a duality, light coming from dark as in Genesis 1. As an artist I work to show this understanding, which I learned from van Gogh in my own unique way, in my art.

The greatest lesson I learned from van Gogh is that visual fine art can change lives. It can inspire new understandings, bridges between people and cultures, and that great art, whatever the narrative, is always somehow holy and inspirational. I doubt that I would be an artist today, or even as good a human being as I continue to strive to become without his influence and spanning across time, his visual friendship, for which I aptly thank God, as van Gogh would have wished.

Close up section of Psalm 113 and Genesis 1-2:7 — Vincent van Gogh Sunset study, 2012, mixed media on board, by Judy Rey Wasserman

According to a Huffington Post article, “Following a town hall Wednesday in Arbutus, Md., Mitt Romney clarified comments made earlier in the day live on CNN by his top adviser Eric Fehrnstrom, who said that Romney could be reset ‘like an Etch a Sketch.’” According to mainstream news reports, the idea behind this reset would be to make Romney, a Republican a more moderate and appealing as a candidate running opposite President Barak Obama, a Democrat.

Mitt Romney’s response that his is and has been a political conservative.

This Etch-a-Sketch Romney comment has been a bonanza for the mainstream news, which continues to look for scandals to gain eyes and ears of viewers and listeners, while diverting attention from many real, moral and pressing issues, such as banks’ frauds, severe water shortages world-wide and continuing ecological and climate changes and catastrophes of increasing earthquake and volcanic activity.

“Etch-a-Sketch” has been a Trending Topic all day on Twitter, thanks to many satiric or sarcastic tweets about Mr. Romney, or positive comments about Etch-a-Sketch, including by many who grew up using one.

As an artist, I highly recommend Etch-a-Sketch. I had one as a kid, and have seen that my kids and others all had or have one too.

I have seen artistic images created by adult hands using an Etch-a-Sketch that are as fine as a good line drawing with a pen. Such works are as fragile and impermanent as a sand painting or unrecorded performance art, which are meant to be fleeting — unlike campaign positions and promises.

The idea that a world leader, especially an American president, who as is our tradition takes the Oath of Office with a hand on the Bible, can have their views, campaign promises and image whimsically reset “like an Etch-a-Sketch” is appalling.

When I create a commissioned Essence Portrait, I discover through conversations and research the “divine spark” in the subject, which I then paint using relevant scripture texts for strokes. The text selected serves as the strokes* that both show the divine within the person, the structure of the features, plus, especially for anyone living, is a kind of artistic prayer for their life. [*The original letters of scripture are the strokes.]

I have been creating portraits of USA presidents using the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20, for the strokes. It has been said that the Ten Commandments were a basic inspiration for our laws. As Chief Executive each president’s responsibility is to see that the laws of the federal government and, especially the Constitution, are upheld.

Popularity is not a part of the president’s job. Despite what the polls infer by the skewed questions asked, voters seem to elect those they have the most confidence in, people they can trust, more that they elect those they would like to invite to a party. History has taught us that our best leaders have dug in their heels and done what they believed to be right even if it made them unpopular. Think of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who differed strongly but are now both revered.

History also shows that not all presidents have fully fulfilled their job description, or have interpreted the laws differently from others, there is no Etch-a-Sketch reset on the job description itself.

Certainly neither Washington, who was always very popular in the thirteen states after the revolutionary war was won (but not popular with England which until the war was won was actually his country), or Lincoln, who struggled with popularity as half of the nation went to war against him, never compromised on upholding what they held were the fundamental laws of the nation.

Exodus 20 (Ten Commandments) – George Washington

Prints Available Click: here

Exodus 20 (Ten Commandments) – Abraham Lincoln

Judy Rey Wasserman has also completed Essence Portraits of Presidents Andrew Jackson , Grover Cleveland and Barack Obama . She is currently working on one of Thomas Jefferson.

To see more Essence Portraits and learn how you can commission one of you or a loved one, Click: HERE .

Each year I donate a postcard to Visual AIDS’ Postcards from the Edge mainly because I have lost friends to AIDS and this happens to be a well run charity that I can support. Plus, of course, they solicit art from artists and I get the fun in exhibiting my postcard (along with 1000 plus others) in a top tier Chelsea gallery.

This year’s event was at the prestigious Cheim and Read. Many of the very best Chelsea NY best galleries have served with the event moving to a new venue each year.

At the time this blog is posted Postcards from the Edge benefit has raised over $83,000 and displayed the work of 1,475 artists. Thousands of guests attended, including those who pay to attend the jam packed opening night where they stalk out the postcards that become available the following morning when they sell for $85.00 each.

So far, I have only donated Genesis: Sunrise Sunset painted postcards. Partially because since my first donation I learned that they sell, but also as Genesis I:7 is the theological (but not scientific) basis for Post Conceptual UnGraven Image Art theory.

VisualAIDS Sunset 2011 is created of strokes that are all the original letters from Genesis 1-:27. It is a part of my Genesis: Sunset-sunrise series.

Visual AIDS Sunset 2011

By Judy Rey Wasserman

To see the postcard I donated last year go to: http://ungravenimage.com/blog/2011/03/genesis-sunset-for-visualaids-2010

The basic Essence Portrait of Picasso is created with strokes that are the original letters of Psalm 46. It was completed at near the end of December 2011, just in time to be included in my annual card/print and blog image.

It is a departure for me. Previously I have somewhat mimicked the actual styles of the artists whose basic Essence Portraits I made. The Picasso portrait somewhat adheres to his earlier style, but includes references to his life and work “hidden” within the image.

The Harlequin pattern, again from his pre-Cubism works, can be seen at the bottom right of the image. Several of Picasso’s Harlequins have gone for near record breaking (at the time) amounts at auction.

Less obvious are the blobby looking fingers imagery that Picasso used in Guernica and other works. There finger tips can be found at the top far left of his head.

Also, the line of shadow on the portraits right forehead is basically the Atlantic shoreline that runs from Spain to France.  Picasso was born and educated in Spain, but spent his artistic life as an ex-patriot living in France , in protest of Franco’s regime. He is strongly associated and claimed as their artist by people in both countries.

So far I have only created Essence Portraits of artists who have influenced my work. Picasso’s Cubist idea of showing a object or person from all sided on a flat plane – depicting what the artist knows is there, but cannot see from his current perspective – helped lead me to portraying the smallest essences, the pre-matter or energy strings of elementary physics, which we also cannot see.

There is another, purely visual connection, or line that runs from Picasso’s Guernica directly to my work using letters as strokes. In my senior year in the High School of Music and Art, my beloved art teacher, Mr. Bertram Katz assigned me to do an in depth report on a painting.  Although, I would have preferred a van Gogh or Monet, I ended up with Guernica.  I discovered a treasure trove of information in the Donnell Library, that included may versions or studies of the Weeping Woman (also called the Wailing Woman), the bull, Horse, etc. I dutifully traced many of these for my report. It ended up being 30 odd pages of my tracings and written information.

I learned to make studies, multiple studies, until I had what I wanted, and then that it is OK to sell them all. I watched as the misery of the Weeping Woman was accentuated through Picasso’s experimentation. I remember that there were days that I could hardly wait for school to be over so that I could head back to the reference department at the Donnell to unlock more of the mystery of the creation of Guernica.  Plus, it helped that Guernica was still at the Museum of Modern Art so I could walk from the Donnell straight to MoMA to compare what I had just carefully traced to the final painting. I recall my parents questioning me after a week as to where I was actually going as I sort of disappeared for a few weeks, until my dad saw all the tracings and notes.

If you look closely at Guernica you can see that the horse’s coat is comprised of strokes that are lines that are in rows and look a lot like a simple letter I, or small l, or number 1, or Hebrew vav, which I recognized at the time, although I doubt it was what Picasso meant..My tracing of Picasso’s horse in Guernica was the first time I can recall using a symbol as a stroke.

Pablo Picasso (Psalm 46)

by Judy Rey Wasserman

To see more basic Essence portraits by Judy Rey click: Basic Essence Portraits and also check out the links above that page for more info, including how you can commission a portrait of you or a loved one.
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Judy Rey Wasserman is an artist and the founder of Post Conceptual Art theory and also the branch known as UnGraven Image Art. Download a free copy click: Manifesto of Post Conceptual Art– A Painting’s Meaning is Inherent in its Stroke.
Check out the limited and open edition prints in the estore.
Follow her on Twitter at @judyrey .

This is my special holiday greeting of 2011. Whatever you celebrate, I hope that this image of Artists Poinsettia will help inspire you to see new, hidden meaning and inspiration everywhere.

Each of us actually sees the world differently from anyone else as our brains use our memories to see. For instance when we see a flower, such as a sunflower, or brain almost instantaneously compares the reflections of light it receives from the eyes to other similar reflections to discern that we are looking at a sunflower. Perhaps, like my brain, your brain touches upon memories of Sunflowers painted by Vincent van Gogh to decode the meaning of what my eyes see, whether I am conscious of the memory or not.

By seeing the works of great and inspiring artists, we are actually learning to see in new ways that can impact and inspire our lives.

Artists Poinsettia by Judy Rey Wasserman

As you probably know I create art according to the tenets of Post Conceptual Art, and this art falls under the branch called UnGraven Image. Each and every stroke of the flower and Essence Portraits is a letter from the only font in the world that is binary, phonic and alpha-numeric, and thus best represents the attributes of the elementary physic’s strings, the tiniest pre-matter and energy of the physical universe. [See the You Tube video “Painting with the Big Bang of Genesis” to discover visually how this all comes together in a painting. Click: HERE.]

Below is a close up of a section that allows you to see many of the my tiny letter strokes

Poinsettia Psalm Artists combines the hand created artworks of Poinsettia Psalm 148 with the Essence Portraits of (clockwise from top) Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, Rembrandt van Rijn, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and Leonardo Da Vinci. These artists are universally acclaimed as some of the top artists in the history of Western Art, plus each has uniquely inspired aspects of my work, which, except for Picasso, I have somewhat explained in previous blogs and article.

Artworks that combine handmade paintings or drawings into a new unique digital artwork are called “tradigital.”

More Inspiration

Many of the images used can be seen larger in articles and blogs, plus information as to their strokes and influence can be found in the links below:

In writing this message I was surprised to discover that although I mention Vincent van Gogh most frequently in my articles and blogs (notice his prominence at the top of the poinsettia!) as his work and writings have been the most profound influence on my work and even life, but I have never actually just focused upon him in a blog. This will be remedied early in 2011.

The Poinsettia Psalm 148 ‘s blog, including symbolism, choice of psalm, and more can be found by clicking HERE. It is also available as a print. Click: http://ungravenimage.com/blog/2011/12/poinsettia-psalm-148/

Monet Click: http://ungravenimage.com/blog/2009/11/lessons-from-monet/

Rembrandt Click: http://ungravenimage.com/blog/2011/07/happy-birthday-rembrandt/

Warhol Click: http://ungravenimage.com/blog/2009/08/birthday-tribute-to-andy-warhol/

Da Vinci Click both links:   http://ungravenimage.com/blog/2011/08/leonardo-da-vinci-essence-portrait/

http://ungravenimage.com/blog/2011/05/did-leonardo-da-vinci-envision-post-conceptual-art/

Picasso Note : this is the first time the Picasso Essence Portrait has been shown online and an upcoming blog will feature and explain it and also how his work helped lead me to my theory of Post Conceptual Art, including the branch of UnGraven Image.

Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, whatever you celebrate — I hope that you have a happy, fulfilled and joyous Holiday Season,

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Judy Rey Wasserman is an artist and the founder of Post Conceptual Art theory and also the branch known as UnGraven Image Art. Download a free copy click: Manifesto of Post Conceptual Art– A Painting’s Meaning is Inherent in its Stroke.
Check out the limited and open edition prints in the estore.
Follow her on Twitter at @judyrey .

In Watermill, NY, there is a field one passes on a back road to the sea. Multimillion dollar homes are about a half a mile away, but the homes nearby have increased in value and are probably worth at least a million, although elsewhere they would be reckoned as average homes. The field is low enough that it is filled with sea a sea grass. Perhaps when the original farmers were here their cattle grazed on in the field.

For the moment the field is fallow,left to the wild sea weeds. It is someone’s tax deduction, perhaps credited as a wet land. For now it exists, much as it always has, wild, even primal and seemingly eternal. When the sun sets over the field, it is a glorious sight.

The glory of the sunsets over this field comforted and inspired me as I would pass by this field daily, for about a month during a difficult time as this art theory, movement and ministry was just beginning. It was both a time of testing and learning and learning to walk closer and recognize and rely more on my source of inspiration – that “still small voice.”

Water Mill Sunset 2004

By Judy Rey Wasserman
Genesis: Sunset-Sunrise series

Strokes: Genesis 1-2:7. Deut .6:4, and “framed” by Psalm 8

18 x 24 inches, acrylic on board

Click here to see a larger image in the store

Although the paintings have been compared to Impressionist paintings for the vibrancy and action of the strokes, in fact the works are created slowly, with letters piled upon letters and interwoven. In the Water Mill Sunset I experimented with also using the letters as glazes over other layers of letters.

My use of glazes of in this work was a breakthrough in the practice of Post Conceptual art for me. I have used this then new technique often in my work since then. That makes WATERMILL SUNSET a pivotal work and important work.

I was inventing the methodology for working with a letter for each stroke using acrylic paint, which is now known as Post Conceptual Art theory, including the branch of UnGraven Image. My own training was with oil paint and I was learning how to use acrylics more as the Old Masters had used oil. One day. When I have a large studio space, I would like to also use oils, but that would require space as I would need to leave each canvas or board to dry before I could begin the next layer. There are many, many layers.

During this time I was working at a short-term temporary day job to bridge the gap until my initial funding came through. I was working as fill-in for an Academy Award winning actor whom I greatly respect for his courage as a human being. This went on while his assistant was away, plus I was teaching him various computer programs, because I am a bit of a geek.

It was a job I enjoyed because the boss was such a dear, plus it was a kind of relaxing break from painting, which I continued to do once I returned home. I think it lasted six weeks until both my funding came through and the real assistant returned.

By then I was painting a new work where I would apply the glazing techniques I used in this artwork, plus I had also moved bravely to tackle a larger supports. As I have moved up in the size of paintings, my skill and courage has grown as much of each painting is created using the very smallest brushes available. I now have very large works also.

WATER MILL was a breakthrough painting in another way. The free flowing method that the grasses are painted with using the name of the Lord (yud-hey-vav-hey) was also a breakthrough moment.

Before this painting my strokes were usually far more ordered, in chains or precisely applied. The very way the grasses would blow in the late winter then early spring breeze inspired this. Although the Hamptons have a reputation for being green and lush, at this time, only evergreens are green in the late winter here. There are no leaves on the trees, no flowers and even the famous Hampton hedges are bare.

My area has a wild, even stark beauty in the winter that has a peaceful feel. There is an essential wild splendor here that I aimed to capture in WATERMILL SUNSET.

What do you think of it? Comments are welcome below.

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Judy Rey Wasserman is an artist and the founder of Post Conceptual Art theory and also the branch known as UnGraven Image Art. Download a free copy click: Manifesto of Post Conceptual Art– A Painting’s Meaning is Inherent in its Stroke.

Check out the limited and open edition prints in the estore.
Follow her on Twitter at @judyrey .]

This artwork’s name tells the basics of its story: that it is created from strokes that are the original Torah font letters of Psalm 148 and that it is an image of a poinsettia.

Yet there is more to this image, as poinsettias have become a popular decoration during the winter holiday season.

Poinsettias are native to Mexico. According to legend in the 16 th century a young, poor Mexican girl was inspired by an angel to gather weeds from the roadside as a present for Jesus’ birthday, and to place these before the church alter. When red flowers blossomed the flower became associated with Christmas. By the 17 th century Mexican Franciscan friars were including poinsettias in there Christmas celebrations, claiming that the leaf pattern symbolized the Star of Bethlehem, while the red color symbolizes the blood of Christ. Plus, of course the colors that symbolize Christmas are greed and red, which are the colors of Italy where the Vatican is located.

See a larger version or collect the print HERE.
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Judy Rey Wasserman is an artist and the founder of Post Conceptual Art theory and also the branch known as UnGraven Image Art. Download a free copy click: Manifesto of Post Conceptual Art– A Painting’s Meaning is Inherent in its Stroke.
Check out the limited and open edition prints in the estore.
Follow her on Twitter at @judyrey .