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Landmarks : Watermarks
LANDMARKS : WATERMARKS
Christy Diniz Liffmann 2008
As far back as I can remember I’ve always been drawn to nature. Dirt, water, mud, seeds, plants, flowers, trees, fruits, water, water, water, clouds, sand, rocks, more water, trees, vines, bugs, lizards, frogs, cows, horses, ducks, chickens, spiders, roly-poly bugs, ants, fish, sand, shells, leaves, grass, spider webs – I guess just about anything around me has made me stop, look, touch, examine, only to store away for future use. We all are exposed to these things; how we are affected, if at all, is another matter.
Often, when having made an observation: be it verbal, in a drawing or painting or captured in a photograph, I’ve had people exclaim in surprise “I didn’t see that!” or “how did you see that?” I know that I have always been acutely aware of the nature of things, their rhythms, patterns, textures, nuances of colors and forms. Of course this has become more refined with the passing of time and with the realization of my need to re-interpret this information in the act of making a painting. This is my way to communicate, to commune.
The sketchbooks of my memory are filled and yet never seem to be full. New pages present themselves as I make another trip, be it to the backyard or to another continent. Travels serve to enrich the vocabulary and understanding of constant interests. More often than not, I find myself drawn in by the novelty of something; a tree in China, a beach in my homeland of Brazil, only to realize that in fact it is so very much the same. Sameness within variety; repetition, patterns that present on a piece or fruit, irrigated fields, the face of a mountain or in the intervals of waves on the ocean - these are all part of my oeuvre.
My “memory-scapes” continue in a somewhat more abstract interpretation of the landscape. This series “Watermarks : Landmarks” evolves from previous works that were conceived out of a study trip to China. The extensive and quite possibly exhaustive use of the land for agriculture – the mass plantings of trees – from seedlings to tall timbers; orchards with beautiful, gnarled, fruit-filled trees, fields of every color and texture separated by tree-lined paths, ponds, lakes, flowing rivers and sadly dried up river beds, diverted for more “important” uses: these images were notations packed with emotional content. The use and misuse of the environment, the irreversible marks we make on the land, and ultimately those who depend on it, were all brought into focus for me.
Beauty: true or false? On closer examination I realize that what often presents as beautiful is in fact the opposite. Man-made or man- induced marks on the land often fool us with their color, pattern and textures. From afar, ponds rimmed with grassy greens and blues are in fact pits of vile and noxious residues of industry and the like. Marshes and wetlands that are carved with canals or filled for building might look harmless and quite lovely when see from afar, but the consequences of these actions will most always produce irreparable damage.
These paintings express my concerns for the “footprint” we leave upon the land.
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Silk Road
Red, green and black take prominence as memories of burial mounds and weeping willows are realized through these multi-layered encaustics. These works were inspired by a study trip to China in 2006 |
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FIGURATIVE: Muses and Graces
This series:Revisiting the Muse, consists of paintings utilizing encaustics, encaustic monoprints and mixed media. Works from this series have been exhibited at the Baton Rouge Gallery, The Brunner Gallery in Baton Rouge and Covington as well as the Nordys Gallery in Birmingham, Alabama.
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LANDSCAPES: The Keys
I am revisiting...... Sky and water: a place where magic happens. These works came as a result from time spent in the Florida Keys. The horizon line is inescapable -the line of demarcation between two spectacular bodies with endless variations.
Some of the pieces were done on paper using a variety of media. Many pieces were done on panels, using them in a vertical orientation. This is not the traditional way but I felt it served to emphasize cloud patterns and their reflections.
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LANDSCAPES: Italy
Ongoing work: Memoryscapes - landscapes done in oil on canvas, oil on paper and watercolor.
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LANDSCAPES: Italian Pine Series
ongoing series: These magestic and graceful pines brought to mind cathedral windows reaching skyward. The negative space created by the intertwined branches gives the illusion of faceted glass panes - capturing bits of sky.
Whereas my first interpretation of these trees came after seeing them in Italy, I feel that they have now become a symbol for a spiritual space and are ever changing. |
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LANDSCAPES: Mexico
2004 Travels to Mexico have been the inspiration for these works. The colorful buildings and bright light of Mexico were the primary focus of the paintings. Places of interest were documented through sketches, paintings done on location as well as through photography. Memories merge, creating compilations of images that evoke the light, form and colors that initially held my attention.
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LANDSCPAES: Brazil
Works from this ongoing series are figurative, landscape and still-lifes which have memories of Brazil as a common theme. |
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LANDSCAPES: Spain
These "memoryscapes" are a result of my travels. They are primarily oil on canvas, oil on paper as well as some watercolors done on location. I consider this to be an on-going series as elements tend to reappear or they are intentionally revisited. |
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LANDSCAPES: France
Ongoing exploration of the remembered and reinvented landscapes of France. Images from my sketchbooks and photographs taken are used to stimulate memories which then are revisited on the canvas. |
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FIGURATIVE: Monoprints
These monoprints were done on Rives BFK paper for the most part, using oil base inks and oil sticks. I call them monoprints/unique prints because some were actually run through the press more than once after being further manipulated. There were no rules! |
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