The Ultimate Quest

"First, one seeks to become an artist 

by training the hand – techniques. 

Then one finds it is the eye 

that needs improving – drawing skills.

 Later, one learns it is the mind that

 wants developing – design or composition; 

only to discover that the ultimate quest 

of the artist is in the spirit – content."

~ Larry Brullo

September 2015 - 30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day Thirty

See abstracts in room settings here.

"It is a shameful thing to be weary of inquiry
when what we search for is excellence."
~ Cicero

See (E and F) Soul Searching here and here.

Prints of this painting in different orientations are available here.

See this image framed here.

"Sometimes you have to go through something else
to find what you're looking for."
~ Robert Genn

Another 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge has come to an end. I can hardly believe it's over. After doing it five previous times, I can honestly say that they do get easier. I am glad I took this opportunity to turbo- charge my career. Accelerated production has a way of clarifying the search and adding velocity to the journey. I want to thank each and every one of you for your wonderful feedback, support and for coming along on this wild, amazing, abstract, alcohol ink ride with me!

"There's always a way to do it better. Find it."

~ Thomas Edison

Come back tomorrow to see the wrap up collage of all 30 of my alcohol ink abstracts!

Thanks so much for your friendship, 

 X ♥  O

Repeating Threads

"There is always more to be found by exploring
the same subject again and again."
~ Dion Archibald

September 2015 - 30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day Twenty-nine

See this painting and others in room settings here.

"With repetition, the alternate approaches
become clear and options open."
~ Robert Genn

See Intervention here

See this painting as a framed print here.

Prints of this painting in different orientations are available here.

"A master painting has multiple repeating threads running through it. These hold the painting together
and unify it in much the same way a great symphony
is tied together by a repeated main theme. Variety in these repeated elements, as in music, adds interest
to the painting. Repetition, variety, unity, harmony
are characteristics of all great symphonies
and of all great paintings."
~ Barry John Raybould

"The key to mastery is through repetition." 
~ Sandy Sandy

There's only one day left of the September 2015 - 30 in 30 Challenge!
I hope I have offered enough 'variation to my repetition' here to keep

you entertained with this month's abstract adventure.

Thanks for your friendship and happy creating!

X ♥  O

The Here and Now

"Awareness requires living in the here and now
and not in the elsewhere, the past or the future."
~ Eric Berne

September 2015 - 30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day Twenty-eight

"Art is the essence of awareness."

~ Louise Nevelson

See Expanding Awareness here

See framed prints of this painting here.

Prints of this painting in different orientations are available here.

"Art that serves an artist best is an experiment in expanding awareness."
~ Peter London

"Art is a form of supremely delicate awareness;
meaning at-oneness, the state of being
at one with creation."
~ D.H. Lawrence

X ♥  O

Mysterious Entity

"We all move on the fringes of eternity and  are

 sometimes granted vistas through fabric of illusion. 

Many refuse to admit it: I feel a mystery exists. 

There are certain times, when, as on the 

whisper of the wind, there comes a clear and quiet

realization that there is indeed a presence in the 

world, a nonhuman entity that is not necessarily inhuman."

~ Ansel Adams

September 2015 - 30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day Twenty-seven

See Sandy's Abstracts in Room Settings here.

"The job of the artist is to always deepen the mystery."

~ Francis Bacon

See Whirling Whisper here

See framed prints of this painting here.

Prints of this painting in different orientations are available here.

"A painting requires a little mystery,

some vagueness, some fantasy.

When you always make

your meaning perfectly plain,

you end up boring people."
~ Edgar Degas

"Poets and artists who speak
of the mystery are rare."
~ Joseph Cambell

Embrace the mysteries of life,

X ♥  O

Like A Gardener

"My kind of composing is more
like the work of a gardener. 
The gardener takes his seeds and scatters them,
knowing what he is planting but not quite
what will grow where and when;

and he won't necessarily be able to
reproduce it again afterwards either."

~ Brian Eno

September 2015 - 30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day Twenty-six

"One compositional element suggests and asks for another. This is what makes the activity interesting." 

~ Robert Genn

See  Scattering Seeds here

See this piece framed.

Prints of this painting in different orientations are available here.

"The relationships of shape, texture, and color

all contribute to the creative action that

gradually becomes the expressive concept."

~ Marilyn Hughey Phillis

"Composition is the gravity that holds a painting together."
 ~ Frank Webb

X ♥  O

Faith Set Afire

"Enthusiasm is a kind of faith 
that has been set afire." 
~ George Matthew Adams

September 2015 - 30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day Twenty-five

"Enthusiasm is not an emotional state.
It is a spiritual commitment,
a loving surrender to our creative process.
Enthusiasm - from the Greek, 'filled with God' - 
it is an ongoing energy supply tapped into
the flow of life itself."

~ Julia Cameron

See Rouged Rhapsody here

See Rouged Rhapsody framed.

Prints of this painting in different orientations are available here.

"Art cannot single-handedly create enthusiasm... 

it merely contributes to enthusiasm and guides us to be

more conscious of feelings that we might previously

have experienced only tentatively or hurriedly."

~ Alain de Botton

"Nothing is so contagious
as enthusiasm."
~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Whatever your plans for the day, do it with enthusiasm!

X ♥  O