March Flowers - Singin' In the Rain

Happy Spring Almost!

Saint Patrick's Day!  Yay!  Happy Tuesday!

Okay I'm not Irish, but...

Hope your week is getting off to a great start.  And hope you're wearing some kind of green - although it's not easy being green... (oh come on, watch it - the Muppets are awesome.)

Is it Spring yet????

News...

I have exciting updates for you!  This Thursday I will be giving an artist's talk on my work at Blue Lemon in Westport as part of the Pairings Art Exhibit.  I'll be sharing some fun stories, my process and inspiration, answering questions, and showing some of my old works as well as never-before-seen new paintings.  Plus there are free passed appetizers and reduced-priced drinks - so come!  (More information here.)

Me with Beechwood Arts Founder Jeanine Esposito

And this morning, Volume #4 of my newsletter for www.amyoes.com went out - and it's not too late to subscribe to next week's #5!  If you'd like a weekly update on updates, new paintings and performances, blog posts for the week, and other fun things, head to amyoes.com and sign up!  (You can always unsubscribe...)

In the Studio...

Getting messy as usual, and creating for hours - which is just such a wonderful feeling right now.  I've been working on several pieces at once lately, so I'll just show you a bit at a time :)

So this is an old favorite of mine, Singing Tree, created in the hospital at a very difficult time, yet still fervent with joy and aliveness - and trees!

Singing Tree

This painting is usually my trademark - I sell greeting cards of Singing Tree, I show it in galleries all the time, and it usually gets the most reactions.  Something in me is always drawn to this tree, her smile, her dance, her song, in the midst of lightning bolts and tears.  It's also really simple, which always impresses me when I don't overdo the heck out of a painting!

Anyway, I wanted to bring to life some of my flowers in the same manner.  I can't tell you how happy their singing faces looking up towards the sun make me!  So I got an idea - let me make another version of "Singing Tree" - same painting, same deal, but just use a flower instead...

This is another delicious example of the process of discovery when art-making, or life-making for that matter.  I had a pretty specific plan in my head - replicate an old painting using the same colors, features etc.  This time, however, I wanted a bit of texture and print to show through, so I covered it with newspaper and gesso before I painted over it.

Then, I started to make my usual red background and sun above it.

As I started to build up the flames over the lake, I saw "fingertips" emerging...and then I started to see a face in the sun.  And then shoulders started to appear...
Before I knew it, I had a whole face and body in there!
As though someone was embracing the singing flower - this discovery made me very excited...

 So now I started to paint the flower - this took me quite a while because I really wanted to texture the leaves and layer on various shades of green - I tried to make the coloring a bit more complex than Singing Tree.



Again, sorry for the lop-sided photo!  I think it's interesting that I gave this flower a broken heart.  I thought I did that for Singing Tree as well but I guess I didn't.  I do like this though.


There is something very comforting to me about this painting.  The sun is beaming, bright in all it's glory, yet it cries.  It appears to be holding the slower for comfort.  And even though the flower's heart is broken, the flower willingly, joyfully captures the teardrops of the sun, for the Sun's water allows her to grow.


In this painting, both the Sun and the Flower are wounded - the Sun cries, the Flower's heartbreak needs mending - and they both seek healing.  They have something to offer each other.  Sun embraces flower, Flower catches Sun's tears.  This is why support, love and relationships are so integral to healing, and to life, of course.  We need others to lean on to ease our pain.  In a loving relationship, there is ebb and flow.  When we are weaker, the other is there to be a strong support for us, and vice versa.  We all have something to offer each other.

You'll have to pardon the upside-down photo until I become more tech-savvy (!) but I love how this turned out...

Did I offer peace today? Did I bring a smile to someone's face? Did I say words of healing? Did I let go of my anger and resentment? Did I forgive? Did I love? These are the real questions. I must trust that the little bit of love that I sow now will bear many fruits, here in this world and the life to come. - Henri Nouwen

We interrupt this blog post for an original song...

And in the spirit of that, here is another song I wrote:  "Breathe It In" - it was really the first kind of "love song" I wrote - actually before love came into my life.  As this quote says...

The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love. - Hubert H. Humphrey

And I wrote song this as I daydreamed about the idea that love could be my final healing resource - what that might feel like, and how the idea of being loved and support by someone else - someone to confide it, to wipe away your tears, and whom you can reciprocate this for, is the most wonderful feeling in the world.

So here's a little youtube video of me playing it out on guitar - watch it HERE.

Or you can listen to a better quality recording of it at this link HERE.

And what do you know...now I feel so blessed that not only do I have the most amazing family in the world who has always been my #1 supports...

The Grand Ol' Oestreicher Fam...

But I also have a fiance...who is equally amazing!

Me and Brandon :)

There is true power in love.  Just as yesterday I wrote about the power of disclosure with healing - having someone to tell our secrets to, to show our art with, and to just nod their head, listen, be there for us, and hold us in their embrace - these things heal.  And then being able to do the same thing in return for them connects us not only to others, but grounds us in the world around us - we become whole, balanced and in sync with the universe.

Love heals...and man do I like painting trees and flowers :)

Healing yourself is connected with healing others. - Yoko Ono

A good song that I didn't write...

On another note, my "Singing Tree" and "Singing Flower" (haven't figured out that title yet) remind me of a song I have always liked for the powerful lyrics - Stand In The Rain by Superchick, 

You can listen to it at that link.  I think the main reason why I love these two paintings is nature's fearless willingness to stand proudly in the rainstorm of teardrops, and not only hold their little tree-hands and flower-fingers up the the sky with open arms, but sway their little stem and trunk hips, look upwards, and sing!  

Love one another and help others to rise to the higher levels, simply by pouring out love. Love is infectious and the greatest healing energy. - Sai Baba

And now...to wash this paint off of my hands...

Sheesh - how did it it get in my hair?

So today - think about a relationship in your life - or maybe one that you have yet to create - and allow that love and support to heal you on your journey.  Be like Singing Flower and catch their teardrops, or be like the Sun and hold that flower close in your embrace - you know me and my nature imagery...I'll stop now :)  But get out there, LOVE, CONNECT, CREATE and have a wonderful St. Paddy's Day!

And if you are of age, have some Guiness!  Or better yet, try 34 Ways To Eat Guinness On St. Patrick’s Day - (Spoiler Alert:  Brownies are involved.)

Dancing Trees

See ya!