Aftermath

Storm Sandy unleashed her wrath here at the Jersey Shore. Her strength was underestimated and  the aftermath inconceivable. There are no words at the moment so all I can do is paint.Works in progress...

Progress: On Top of My Head

Maintaining balance in life is key. Physical, psychological and emotional balance...moderation in most things,  is desirable. But of course this is also unrealistic and idealistic. At any given moment, added pressure and weight , the unforeseen and unexpected, threatens  to topple our steadiness and stability. So we readjust our stance. We shift and redistribute the weight and sometimes we change, trying once more to  keep centered and hold on. I believe the solution sometimes is to simplify, release and lessen the load. It takes strength to admit weakness and weary.

Here's my recent progress: On Top of My Head.

 

Change: On Top Of My Head

Life itself  is change. It is inevitable. We struggle to preserve and protect what is and what was. Our minds grow attached to the comfortable and familiar, the safe and the sound. I only know that for me, decades of holding on have left me in a place of fear, anxiety and discontent. I lay awake rationalizing my life and my choices, all of which have led to a lovely state of being....quiet, secure but very alone. "Get a life right?" "Quit the complaining!" "Have a grateful heart and stop the self centered babble!" I mentally scolded myself for years with these reprimands. But the gnawing desire to leave, to do more and be more, to find like minds in work and in my heart persists and paralyzes. So change is due. It is now. It is terrifying because those I love most, now know what plagues my heart and mind and they are waiting. My change will be theirs as well.

On Top of My Head is a series of paintings that I will continue to develop, inspired by my Child's Play work. Within them I explore the idea of self imposed mental clutter that creates an emotional and psychological weight .These burdens, both real and imagined, threaten to crush the spirit. I am not here to lecture or solve or reflect on how to make change. I do that with myself in every waking moment it seems. I just know that leaving means changing and changing requires unloading the heaviness. I can't run and fly with all of this extra weight. And now to decide...where the heck am I going...I believe post grad school, will take me to where my art and the art of others surrounds me daily, where my heart is understood.This requires   painting and more painting to get me where I want to be! (Oh and welding, I need to know how to weld !) x

On Top of My Head....some new images in process:

All images are copyrighted by Jude Harzer Fine Art and CRO Designs 2012

Child's Play

Simplicity is necessary this year in order to focus on refining ideas and producing a finished body of work that I intend to exhibit. Child's Play, On Top of My Head and other series of paintings are becoming inextricably connected as a cohesive unit of thought and art. Graduate school has helped me to consider more thoughtfully what the heck I'm trying to do here and why:) I am confident in the value of my work. I have a lot more to say. So this year I will make it matter and share it.
During my short hiatus from school, I struggled with a few new images.I continue to paint my way to my dreams and remind myself daily that the joy, the inspiration, the promise and hope, are in the process. I am awake so as not to miss it.
Here are a few recent explorations...all related to the Child's Play concept.

Child's Play: Awake Jude Harzer Fine Art 2012

detail Child's Play: Awake Jude Harzer Fine Art 2012

Child's Play: Wisdom Jude Harzer Fine Art 2012

Child's Play: In My Arms Jude Harzer Fine Art 2012

Tell Me A Story: "I Don't Really Want To Be The Queen"

And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The "Tell Me A Story" series is an ongoing group of images inspired by my daughter Christina, who when she was little would insist that I repeatedly tell her stories. She was fascinated with stories about my childhood, her childhood and about the lives of those she loved. After years of hearing my tales, complete with exaggeration , altered details and added fictional embellishments to save myself from the monotony, it became difficult to distinguish between reality and the imaginary.These paintings have a more illustrative and narrative quality than my typical works and are wrought with symbolism. Dandelion dreams, buttercups,a marriage of interior and exterior, are symbolic elements that support the elusive nature of this visual tale. Every component of my paintings, every stroke, sequence of numbers and letters...matters...or does it? Tell me your story....my paintings reveal mine.