"Enlightenment"-New Painting

Here's a new painting, it's 24x24 and is oil on panel. I wanted to do a painting about the elusive quality of knowledge or spiritual enlightenment as part of my Building a Life Series. Light is the perfect instrument to communicate this concept. I thought my model did a great job expressing this idea of wonderment.

International Artist Magazine-People and Figures Competition

My painting "Like Breath on Glass" is a finalist in the International Artist Magazine's People and Figures Competition-2009 in the Dec/Jan 2010 issue.

I posted this painting on facebook and a few days later there was a beautiful poem in my inbox. The painting had inspired friend and Birmingham AL poet Scott Gordon to write "Transparent Hearts". It is eerily intuitive  and I'm in awe! I've been inspired many times by literature, art and music but this is the first time that I've known one of my paintings to inspire another artist to create. Thank you Scott!

Transparent Hearts

By: Scott Gordon

bleak patterns and shade
she watches the lightning
and fears the coming rumble
this perforated horizon
will soon tear itself apart
with or without him, she decides
her fingers trace transparent hearts
on the window pane
they can sense the dancing pressure
and the condensation scramble

between the blur of buses
she sees him across the street
waiting for the light to change
hands in his pockets, eyes on the ground
framed within a tiny heart
he seems small, a universe away
who are his heroes, she wonders
and where does he keep them hidden?

The painting is 16x20, oil on panel. Here are a few details.

Thanks to my daughter for modeling on a cool winter afternoon at the outdoor Train Museum in Savannah, GA. This painting is currently at Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA.

"Like Breath on Glass" is in this issue along with excerpts about my inspiration, design strategy and working process. The magazine is in bookstores now.

The Artist's Magazine, 26th Annual Competition

"The Ascent" has won Honorable Mention in The Artist's Magazine's 26th Annual competition in the Portrait/Figure category putting it in the top six of the competition! This is the cover and it's in bookstores now.

The painting and excerpts from an interview are on page 56 of the Dec 09 issue. I'm honored the piece was chosen by Nelson Shanks, the juror for this category. He is esteemed portrait artist to Princess Diana, Bill Clinton, The Pope, Pavarotti and founder of Studio Incamminati a school for studies in realist art.

"The Ascent" is part of my Building a Life Series and is 55x32. The painting is on display at Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA.

 Also finalists in this year's competition were my paintings "Carpe Diem" 48x36

 and "Angle of Repose" 36x27, also part of the Building a Life Series.

More work from this series and others can be seen on the website www.terrystricklandart.com. Here are a few details of "The Ascent".

New Painting, "The Clearing", 24x18

This painting was a fun experiment because the figures are smaller than I normally do, and the outdoor lighting had a very soft quality to it that my studio lighting doesn't have.

Thanks to my son and his fiance for modeling.

Mississippi University for Women Show

The University made me feel welcome indeed! Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

A Pre-Symposium reception with Professor Alex Stelios-Wills and Professor Tom Nawrocki. I enjoyed talking with all the faculty and was very impressed with the beautiful facilities, student and faculty work!

This was my bedroom & bath at the Puckett House on campus, it's a beautiful Victorian house for visiting speakers.

 

 

Reception pictures borrowed from the Eugenia Summers Gallery facebook page. Thank you photographer Aneesha Baldeosingh (student and gallery assistant).

This is the cabin I stayed in the second night, it's at Plymouth Bluff, a property maintained by the University.

The show will be up until November 4, Eugenia Summers Gallery hours are Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm.

A Virtual Exhibit of the work in the show can be seen at http://www.terrystricklandart.com/VirtualExhibit.htm

Eugenia Summers Gallery

Here's a preview of my solo show at Mississippi University for Women in Columbus. The show opened Oct 8.

On Friday Oct 23, there will be a student lecture/gallery talk early in the day and a public reception 5:30-7:00 pm.

The exhibit of thirty two paintings and drawings will be up until Nov 4, 2009. The show will be in the Eugenia Summer Gallery on the MUW campus which is open Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm.

All the paintings and drawings on display can be seen at
http://www.terrystricklandart.com/VirtualExhibit.htm

Thanks to Alex Stelioes-Wills, gallery director for making this exhibit happen!

"Oracle", Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends

This is a painting called, "Oracle" it's part of my Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends Series. It's 20x16 in an oval format. The idea of an oracle as a medium for revelation is provocative and one I have enjoyed exploring. Technically this is one of the trickiest faces I've every painted because of the strange blue reflected light and the golden up-light from the lamp.

 

I used a combination of different exposure photographs for reference because of the nearly impossible lighting situation and to get the various levels of detail I wanted. I left the still life set up and painted that from life sheltering the still life from the light shining on the canvas and palette.

Too much studio light killed the drama and the color in the still life so I was practically painting this in the dark. The colored lights reflecting on fabric and flesh were luscious to look at and a challenge to paint.

 I thought this image was so strong and the expression so mysterious that I decided to do another version in charcoal and pastel on a warm gray paper. This piece is 30x22.

 

Both of these pieces will be in my Mississippi University for Women show at Eugenia Summers Gallery, Oct 8-Nov 4, 2009, Reception Oct 23. More about this show on my blog from Sept 13.