Docked
Oil on paper
Artist Statement
I photograph moving water on my hikes and pulled this image out of my files, deciding to paint the rocks and water pouring amongst them and discovered, in the act of painting, suggestions of faces and animal shapes in the rocks. I enhanced these and added the unattended boat to suggest a miniature human in the environment, raising the intriguing question… where is he? Has he been absorbed by the rock/bird shape on the left? The bear head rock on the right? Perhaps the raccoon suggested in the shadows in the background? A delectable mystery.
I paint for the joy of discovery that occurs in the process of a painting’s unfolding. I often start with a general approach of rendering a scene, and find accidents reveal opportunities to follow an idea. In the paintings above, shapes led to pushing them a bit further into creatures or animals lying unobtrusively around in nature, seldom seen, but felt. I like exploring the mysterious spirits in nature that I encounter every time I spend time there.
Contact Info
Email: kelleycooper58@gmail.com
Website: KelleyWCooper.com