Woman with Crane

This is a digital painting from the series "da Vinci goes Digital". I downloaded a low resolution da Vinci sketch. Low rez images encourage me to totally repaint the resource pictures, giving them my personal imprint. The sketch was sienna toned, I added more color. Warm earth toned schemes are a favorite of mine. I updated her hair. The face indicates sensitivity and introspection. I think that she is beautiful.

The crane and background are Japanese influenced.

My Air force father was stationed at Yakota Air Force base in 1950, when I was six years old. The Japanese experience has been a huge influence for me. Children are so impressionable. Experiencing a foreign culture at a young age expands the mind. Between oriental cultures and western cultures there is a million miles of difference. Knowing that there are alternatives for everything has given me a wide range of choices all my life.

Traditional Japanese aesthetics are beautifully elegant. Before western contact, Japanese art was tradition based. Revered craftsmen and painters refined what had been done before. The old ways were respectfully studied. An artist worth his chops assimilated the masters and built on the past.

Western art has a long history of breaking the rules. Creating new aesthetic guidelines every generation. And WOW! we have created some mind bending art.

Now we have exciting easy access to a long tradition of world wide aesthetics. We can easily see pictures that span art history, from Lascaux cave art to current global trends. An embarrassment of riches. A visual buffet to satisfy the most omnivorous appetite. So little time, so much art.

As an artist I happily create syncretic images. Reference what ever is available to realize the concepts in my head.

Art is communication. Visuals transfer intimate, deep information osmotically from one consciousness to another. Art spans our separate minds. With art, I am able to make visible my rich inner life. Growth occurs when there is a true meeting of minds. All parties are holistically advanced.

It is good to be an Art Goddess!!!