Art Appreciation

Well, I cannot give a valid explanation as to why I have not posted an entry lately, but I suppose I have been experiencing a creative & inspirational (emotionally spurred) slump! I do not know if it is the heat or a combination of the climate and my current housing dilemma..But thank goodness I have found my muse! Here it/ she is:

Marjorie Rose Powell

www. marjorierose.com

Marjorie Rose Powell is my favorite folk artist extraordinaire! If you are not familiar with her work let me bring your cultural side up-to-date. She is a self taught artist born and bred here in North Carolina. Her paintings are in galleries across the U.S. and Europe. Her art work and subject matter is simple (almost childlike), yet never the less mesmerizing. If you do not catch yourself smiling when gaze upon her work, there is clearly some thing wrong with you and the right side of your brain!

One trademark of Marjorie's is the color! The color! Can we talk? The color in her artwork is truly energy on canvas, which brings her work to life! I guess that is why folk art is often mistaken as child's art. What could be more flatting in my opinion. You can just see a child coloring and testing every crayon in the box! Maybe that is another reason for her popularity, because it conjures images from our childhood and overwhelms us with glee. Her work is incredibly personal and whimsical. Each painting is painstakingly and meticulously detailed, sort of like a Where's Waldo? poster. You will catch yourself shouting out loud, "Look did you see that over here? and another person will proclaim "look at that detail under there!"

Once you encounter a Marjorie Rose Powell original, I promise you will feel compelled to buy one of your own. Pictured above is my first Powell acquisition I purchased at the Wayne County Art's Council silent auction last year. Though fabulous, it still was not enough to squelch my desire to own more! So, on Friday it just so happened I had to add to my collection. I quickly justified my purchases (due to the stress of "the move") and added to my hoarding addiction! The first painting is titled "Waiting to be Weaned". As a dog lover, she had me at Woof! Then, the coup de grace is the Halloween painting titled "Fabulously Brave Trick-or-Treaters". If you know me and my love for everything Halloween, I need not say more? S*O*L*D!!!!

The lesson learned here is: buy what you love, appreciate art & the art world, and let others inspire you through their creative talents! I must go forth now create.