Trees With Ideas

Trees with ideas.Trees that express themselves. They test the limits with trunks and branches and leaves: we can only guess at what happens underground. And sunlight becomes a partner as the day proceeds: bouncing light and splashing shadows over the ground.

Trees with ideas share loudly in the quiet of spaces. They love to surprise. And they touch me with teasing.

 

 

 

Coffee Talk

Over coffee, at the kitchen table, Morse shared, “If someone can draw a rock they can draw anything.”

We weren’t talking about rocks and we weren’t talking about drawing but it didn’t seem to matter to Morse. He just thought it should be said.

Many years later, as we sat with our coffee, there were some rocks on the kitchen table and Morse was drawing them. I watched. Moments like this say so much about how lives happen. How many rocks in the garden do we see but decline the opportunity to spend time with them.

Morse never said why he waited so long but it was very clear drawing rocks had been on his mind for some time. The wonderful part is Morse finally gathered some rocks to nourish the artist he held within.

Do you know stories like this?

 

 

How Large Is Large?

“I love this!  But can you paint it for me on a much larger canvas?”

And the response is “How large is large?”

Imagine yourself in this moment. You feel a deep personal connection with a cityscape painting on a 10″ x 12″ canvas. And you know you’d love it even more if the painting is larger. The happy ending, of course, is you decide on a 48″x 48″ canvas and this Calgary artist created a similar cityscape just for you  (see the image below). 

Paintings do this. They help us feel things. Paintings bring something into our life that never before exisited. And we have an oppotunity everyday to respond to this nourishing experience.

As an artist, a painter, I love bringing things into existance.

So tell me, “What would you like painted?”

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Jim Pescott is an international contemporary artist who lives and creates in Calgary, Alberta. To contact Jim directly about his paintings, or a project you think about, please phone 403-870-0591 or email him at paintwithdots@shaw.ca. Jim’s website is http://www.jimpescott.com

Most Recognized Painting In Italy?

Something very cool happened back in December when my paintings were in Florence for the “Symphony of Color” exhibition.

First, the VF Agenda section of Vanity Fair magazine, the Italian issue, listed the “Symphony of Colour” exhibition in Florence as one of the top things to do in Italy during September. The organizers of “Symphony of Color” were not aware VF Agenda was listing the exhibition until the mention appeared in the Vanity Fair issue.

Then, the other very cool something that happened is VF Agenda used an image of my painting “Red Trunks” to illustrate their mention of “Symphony of Color”. At the time, this Calgary Artist was in Paris, France, attending the Salon 2011 for the Societe Nationale des Beaux-arts at the Carrosel du Louvre when I learned VF Agenda had used “Red Trunks”. The message I received was through a through a Facebook message that shared the image from the magazine. This is the same image you see with this post so the quality could be better but currently it is the only copy I have.

Arguably, “Red Trunks” was one of the most recognized paintings in Italy last December.

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Jim Pescott is an international contemporary artist, living and working in Calgary, Alberta. He has participated in exhibitions in Italy, France, Spain, USA and Canada including Paris, Florence, Cannes, Barcelona, Ferrara, Montreal and New York City. For information on paintings, Jim may be contacted at 403-870-0591 as well as by email at paintwithdots@shaw.ca

http://www.jimpescott.com

“The Backstairs”

At any other time of day I would have walked past this place. But the light of the day, at that moment, placed a flight of wooden stairs on stage and the words “paint me” entered my thoughts. No trees, no sky, no people: just stairs at the back of an old building. “The Backstairs” is a forgotten place.

What do you experience in this painting?

“Autumn Spirit”

Autumn started in earnest today where I live. Leaves changing into new colours as winds bluster them into the air. This canvas was impatient with me as I painted. “Hurry, hurry”, it was saying. And I knew this was because the sun was now melting everything away.

“Windows In The Trees”

While unwrapping a new canvas the other day, a vision of deep shadows and windows in the trees came to mind: actually it really wasn’t a thinking experience as the canvas was sharing and my role is to listen and then respond although more and more I get the feeling I’m not responding.

“Windows In The Trees” is 20″x16″.

“A Walk In The Sunshine”

A “Walk In The Sunshine” is always a cure if you are feeling blue. I remember this painting pushing me as I listened and responded to its diretion as though it wanted to get things done and move out into the sunshine. By pushing, I mean the canvas is energy filled and directs what it wants virorously: yes, some paintings are more relaxed in the creatiion process. This painting brings joyful sunlight if you have a place that feels blue. Perfect addition to your collection.

“Venice Siesta”

For the first half day in Venice, I found no adequate words to describe what I was seeing or feeling. I walked a labyrinth of passages while watching something quite incredible. The buildings, the boats and the canals seemed held together in a marvelous balance yet I couldn’t grasp what was plainly there for me to see. And it wasn’t until I sat to sip an Americano a table alongside a canal that I fully understood what it was I was supposed to see. Reflections! Amazing reflections. Everywhere. Reflections mirroring everything in the city to make it seem like two cities. Reflections enveloping me like I’m floating inside a balloon with lovely dreams painted on the sides.

“Venice Siesta” is one of the uncountable reflections I enjoyed in Venice. I have a series of these to paint.

“Antarctica Shoreline”

Hostile, simply not habitable: “harsh” in itself being an understatement. Yet so prescious to the earth and to life. This coastline seems like no other I’ve ever  witnessed. When I first saw this place I was lost for words at the spectre of imagining how one, as a single human, might fathom the mere existance of such ice and vastness. Then, within it all, as I gazed out through the blue clear air toward these dense frozen sculptures, elements of attachment slowly seeped into my being as though I was existing with them.

“Antarctic Shoreline” is a real place on the coast of the Antarctica Peninsula. I’ve been there and I’ve seen it ( during the summer season). This is a snapshot really: the ice constantly changes in sync with glacial flows. At times the metamorphosis is stark as vast sections break away and plunge into the ocean.

“Antartica Shoreline” will be exhibited in Paris, France, in December 2011 at the Salon SNBA 2011 (Societe Nationale des Beaux Arts)to be held in the Carrousel du Louvre.