Mixed Media for my boyfriend. / 2008
I got sick of beakfaces and lizards momentarily and decided to paint some fishies – literally, goldfish…I’ve applied patches of gold leaf to their little heads. Despite being distracted by Eurovision I managed to finish it this weekend!! This one will probably be at Brunswick St Gallery in their small works show, June 6th. About 20×20cm, watercolour, chalk pastel etc on canvas. These enlargements are bigger than life size:
My first piece finished in 09! Another octobeast from my series – here’s another one Watercolour, chalk pastel, ink, conte, metallic leaf on canvas. / He has golden suckers!
pens, pencils, markers, watercolors a similar drawing / available on t-shirts here: http://www.redbubble.com/people/olechka/clothing/586733-2-sphera
You know that kiwi band, straitjacket fish? I mean, straitjeckutt fush? This creature is badly behaved. 30×30cm, watercolour, pastel, ink, metallic pen, iridescent pigments on canvas.
The Scream is basically a piece about violence against women, a subject that really sensitizes me not only for being a woman, but also for being human and for dreaming and working for a better world based on respect and equality. I didn’t want a piece that was oppressing or showed only the pain of the violence or abuse. I wanted something dynamic, that could have a “voice”, that could help people to reflect about how to change things. The symbolism of the piece is quite simple and direct. There’s a dual figure in the center. She might be the same woman in two different attitudes, if you like. The red-haired one is scared and in pain. She holds her bleeding heart and wears a mask to keep herself hidden from judgment or other losses. She might be the one who was raped in a party after drinking too much, the one who was abused for a family member but preferred to hide in order to do not cause disturbances in the family, the one who was beaten for her husband but kept silent for fear of losing her children. She might be one of the Congo women. She might be me, or you. The black-haired woman doesn’t wear a mask. She is screaming – although sometimes I think that she is in fact singing. What she releases from within herself is a bird, red as life. Is the desire for freedom from a world conquered by force, not love. She screams her right to be treated as a human being instead of a second-class citizen, as a partner instead of a subordinate. Her right to express her own ideas and have their own attitudes without being demonized for them. There are also masks at the bottom, a pile of masks without faces behind them. They once belonged to women who decided to scream instead of keep silent and anonymous. That decided to stop pretending that that’s how the world is and there’s nothing that can be done to change it. But there’s so much one can do just by having a voice… And use it to demand respect for being human is urgent.
Watercolor and pencil on illustration board, / 15×20 / 2009 Related work: / The Waterman: Unio Mystica This is the second panel of The Waterman triptych. While the central panel represents the Christ as the macrocosm, the side panels are the microcosm, represented by the Four Elements and their manifestation in the physical world. Ignis Aeris is the yang pillar, the elements Fire and Air. Volatile and oriented upward, these elements are connected to the realms of the abstract thinking and intuition. Fire is the energy, passion and primeval instincts, that need to be balanced by the intellect (Air) in order to manifest in a most constructive way. The certainty of the Divine, that comes from the heart and from a primal knowledge, needs to be shaped by the intellect in order to become less aggressive and to expand (the butterflies rising from the fire and flying upward). Only through a perfect combination of faith and reason we can access the Divine and understand Its Laws. At the basis of the picture, handling the creative power of Fire, we see the Magician of the Tarot, which I represented wearing the skin of Nemean Lion, just like Greek hero Herakles. He represents the first step in the Hero’s Journey, or that path that each one of us need to find out and go through in order to become Whole with the Universe. The Magician is the one who uses his power of will (Fire) and mental skills (Air) in order to find his own path.
In the bestiary there’s also a garden. It’s walled off though, so the beasts can’t trample it! I loved painting the undulating fin shapes of this piece, so I had to do another. 15×30cm, watercolour, chalk pastel, ink, conte, iridescent pigments and copper leaf on canvas. In this one you can see the shiny copper:
original watercolor 31 X 41 cm / 12.09×15.99 inches / 250 usd / can be shipped worldwide / payment via paypal
Fiiiiiiinally finished. A companion piece to this one I did a year and a half ago: I decided the other day that there was a distinct lack of blue paintings in my folio! Had to rectify the situation. He is approx 30cm square, watercolour/pastel etc on canvas. He has shiny silver leaf on his spikes too.
Watercolor and pencil on illustration board, / 10×8 / 2009 Model: Adhara Batul One of the Greek myths I adore the most, for its incredible strength, poetry and significance, is the myth of Persephone. In Greek mythology, Persephone was the goddess of the underworld and of the Spring growth. Daughter of Demeter, goddess of the harvest, she was abducted by Hades and taken to the land of the dead. By a determination of the Fates, she was forced to stay for two seasons each year after eating pomegranates seeds, thus becoming consort of Hades and queen of the underworld. This time I opted by depicting her sorrow and solitude after having the seeds, although there’s quite an air of resignation with her destiny.
I just finished this painting of one of the photos in my portfolio here called “Cascading Ruffled Begonia.” It’s a great begonia that loves its spot by our front door each spring. Painted on Arches cold press paper with mostly Daniel Smith’s watercolors. / 12”x 10”
The Sophia, in Jewish mysticism, was the personification of the female counterpart to god. She epitomized wisdom, and was looked upon as a deity that was elusive but could be searched out and found. The name Sophia itself is Greek and means wisdom, being the root in such words as philoSOPHY, SOPHIST, etc. Later religious groups, like some early christian sects, debased her as a heretical figure- her wisdom being superficial and of a false kind. / I personally like the idea of a female godhead, and in this enlightened age I thought it well to represent her in my own style and art. I looked to other female goddess roles for inspiration- Demeter, Minerva, Diana, etc. There seems to be an overwhelming degree of identification with the most popular- and powerful- female deities with the earth, with life, and with death. Of course in the real world woman do carry much of this burden- or blessing, however you look at it- like childbirth, and the stereotypical nurturing roles, etc. Men like myself are able to be brats and run off from our duties with family and home and life, pursuing silly things like war and death and the ‘sporting’ lifestyle. / The Sophia in this painting resides at her place in the cosmos- at once beautiful, stoic, matriarchal and proud. Flower petals symbolizing life fall from her fingertips, but there is brevity in this gift. The skull at her feet is death and the inevitable end of life, yet the skull remains after all else has decomposed; a permanence to this cycle. Accepting this truth and understanding it’s beauty can be enlightening and a release. Original painting was completed in watercolor, gouache, and some acrylic on Crescent illustration board, circa 2007.
Seeker of Truth available as a framed print, mounted print, card and poster. A seeker of Truth. / He will never find it. / But the dimmest of possibilities—he may himself become Truth. / Image copyright © 2008 Shanina Conway. / Copying and displaying or redistribution of this image without permission from the artist is strictly prohibited. Mixed media and a bit of an experiment, fell in love with the cobweb-like watercolours drips holding colour;)
/ Another hungry angler fish I painted for this show. Opens this Sat! Watercolour, chalk pastel, ink, conte on canvas…continuing on from this one: / /
Original watercolor image scanned into photoshop and transformed into this, and then later these: / boundless / / tall tree /
What time is it really? Which way are we going? Time looms over us all, hanging right in front of our heads…. / Was completed in watercolor and gouache media on Arches cold-press 180lb. paper, circa 2007.
Watercolor painting of a kayaker on a misty lake. Painted on 140 lb Fabriano cold-pressed paper.
The labyrinth was a maze created by the brilliant engineer Daedalus for King Minos to hold prisoners from ever escaping. The Minotaur resided deep within it’s depths, later to be slain by the hero Theseus. Of course Daedalus himself later became a captive to his own creation. Since even he could not find a way to escape from his own construction, he devised wings of wax and feathers and string, and, along with his son, Icharus, flew from the confines of the labyrinth. Icharus, not heeding his father’s warning, flew on too high toward the sun, causing the wax in his wings to melt; and he fell to the earth, and his death. / The labyrinth has been observed in many cultures to be a metaphor of the depths of the human psyche. From the ideas of old Greece to medieval cathedrals to the modern ideas of the psychoanylist Carl Jung, the labyrinthean depths of our own minds may very well be of the very highest construction and capability, as well as our greatest obstacle toward true enlightenment and freedom. / Original work was created using watercolor and gouache media on Arches cold-press 180lb. cotton rag.
Mixed Media Work – Pink Blossom digitally mixed with paint
Saltspring Island, just off Vancouver Island, is a peaceful spot to go to simply enjoy the beauty of the water, the sea birds, and the fir trees. And the Northwest’s plants are in their glory there! This watercolor painting is of one of the very colorful rhododendrons we found there one spring. “Autumn Gold” is its actual name. This image is available for purchase as a print and can be obtained by contacting me through Bmail. Painted on Arches 140 Cold Press, 8”x 12”. I use Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors and a few of Winsor Newton’s.
Another slightly deaf creature, like this one Watercolour, chalk pastel, ink, conte, iridescent pigments and copper leaf on canvas. In this one you can see the copper on the suckers:
The original was done in watercolor and gouache on Arches cold-press in 2005. / Good composition and likeness in this one. Oh, how I miss the punk rock girl….
This watercolor by artist Paul Jackson captures 42nd Street in Midtown Manhattan on a rainy day. The pelican stopped for a quick “Detour” on it’s way to the Fulton Fish Market. Completed in 2008, this 22” X 36” painting is part of the Paul Jackson New York watercolor series. Detour won The Margery Soroka Memorial Award from the American Watercolor Society.
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