The Channel Paintings, and Morning Lessons, daily painting by Everglades Artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Morning Lessons, 2012, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on board, 7"x5"

 

Today's small Everglades painting is a result of a little bit of a foggy morning last week.  The sky had touches of pink in it, and everything else was subdued.  The larger palm looks like it might be teaching something to the smaller one. 

 

I paint the palms so often that they often take on human personalities in my mind.  I guess we're both living things, doing the best we can to get by.  Living on the edge of a waterway that often floods and has few nutrients could be quite a challenge, but unless we can talk to the palms we'll never know. 

 

 

 

Dawning is being shown in the lobby of the City Hall  in Palm Beach Gardens this month as part of a National Association of Women Artists show, Image Makers.  I was delighted to get a call last week letting me know that it had won an honorable mention. It's part of a series of "channel" paintings that I've done over the last eight months.  Someone asked me what they mean.  They're a little hard for me to explain, but here goes.

 

The Channel Series

 

A channel, a passage, a transition.  

The edges of day.

  The overwhelming beauty of nature,

 The fear of being overwhelmed. 

Making your way into the light. 

 A little bit of all these things, and something else,

 something beyond our understanding.