Elizabeth Garat

Ghost River Sentinels

2016

Artist Comments
The painting depicts a serene autumn scene in the delta land of the Mississippi River. Towering cypress trees encircle the area, with the water hazily reflecting their yellow and orange-tinted leaves. The composition exudes a tranquil atmosphere.

About the Artist
Artist Shela Goodman paints impressionist pastoral scenes with graceful refinement. Growing up on a farm in rural Arkansas, she nurtured her love for the beauty of nature. Shela captures these memories in harmonious displays of the environment around her. She was diagnosed with partial cone dystrophy, which closed off her periphery and deterred her ability to see. “In order for me to see a large painting in full, I have to take photos of it while it is in progress to see what the whole painting looks like,” shares Shela. The impairment of her vision only inspired her to paint what she can still perceive. She spent many years in Indiana and Michigan until she returned to Arkansas to care for her parents. Their unused living room became the perfect studio space for Shela, allowing her to grow her creative process while being available for her parents’ needs. As expected from a genealogy buff, she savors time spent with her family. Her other pastimes also include cooking and quilting. Various institutions in the United States have commissioned Shela’s highly favored work.

Words that describe this painting: cypress, trees, river, Mississippi, delta, fall, autumn, water, woods, season, forest...

Artist Comments
I used my finger tips to apply many layers of translucent cool colors in oil and wax. There is a softly calm feeling to the quiet distance of the winter trees in the background while one sturdy pine comes forth. Hints of apricot and lavender glow from beneath misty layers. My choice in this color palette lends itself to any season's decor, inspired by Wolf Kahn. The edges of this piece are natural wood. This piece is wired to hang.

About the Artist
Valerie Berkely uses her finger tips as brushes to create her abstract paintings. For Valerie, the art is all about the process, the paint, her mood, and the moment. She admires the artist Wolf Kahn, who once said, “the picture is the conclusion of an experiment in which the hint of an image becomes actuality." Like Kahn, Valerie’s paintings combine pictorial landscapes with painterly abstraction. The vibrant primary colors capture the hues of the sun rising and setting, and the texture of her fingers across the surface divides sea, land, and sky. There is something very dreamy about these works, exemplified by their color, texture, and atmospheric quality. Valerie’s first “art epiphany” was seeing Seurat's La Grande Jatte at the Art Institute of Chicago. “Bowled me over! I actually fell down. And I knew I was to become a painter.”

Words that describe this painting: Impressionism, Wolf Kahn, transparent, translucent, layers, abstract landscape, oil, wax, finger painting, impressionism, landscape, representational, oil painting, purple

Trees In Winter...