#395 • A Safe Place

 

Click here to purchase this painting #395

http://www.claudiadiller.com/blog.htm

 

Everyone is looking for a safe place these days. Kind of feels like Maine is being sucked up by ETs who are trying to escape the ruined planet they left behind - leaving their less fortunate neighbors forced to deal with the aftermath.

For those who have been working on their spiritual programs for a while, our safe place, we are told, is in our heart and mind first, and then from there we now have the tools to create it "out there." But what if your "out there" safe space is no longer safe? What if no "out there" space is safe no matter where you run to. Scary isn't it!

Can artists help deal with fear by creating safe looking spaces for those who can't or don't know how? Does that help, or are we perpetuating a Ozzie and Harriet image that doesn't exist, and never did? Do we comment on the scary stuff - document it so it doesn't get repeated in the future. Or do we artists need to simply share our own truth - how we deal with fear. 

I've seen places like the above. I know they aren't what they appear to be, but they make me feel better when I imagine them. Is that okay? Can we just imagine these places as a possibility? Can they help us remember, albeit naively, what a safe place might look and feel like? Do these images help us all aspire to re-create this planet as a safe place for everyone?

I hope so.

A Safe Place • 8" X 8" watercolor framed to 12" X 12" • $250

#394 • Life's Too Short

Click here to purchase this painting #394

http://www.claudiadiller.com/blog.htm

I've been kind of screwing off this summer. Sailing and gardening a lot, though gardening does have some redeeming qualities. I would argue sailing does too because it inspires me to do what I do for work. I think it's a COVID thing - life's too short.

Life's Too Short • 8" X 8" watercolor framed to 12" X 12" • $250

#393 • Chawing

 

 Click here to purchase this painting #393

http://www.claudiadiller.com/blog.htm

I have no idea where this whimsical little sketch of two fishermen chawing, especially during a less than whimsical time, came from. Maybe I'm trying to balance myself out.

Chawing • 8" X 8" watercolor framed to 12" X 12" • $250

#392 • Coastal Memory

 Click here to purchase this painting #392

http://www.claudiadiller.com/blog.htm

It's been a foggy summer along the coast of Maine this year. We've tried to get used to navigating through it, but you never get used to the fear of hitting something out there.  It's a bit freaky to hear a ferry boat but not see it, or be surprised by a big white sail as it suddenly appears out of the fog without a sound like a ghost ship.The worst is sailing through one of those shipping lanes that crisscross the bays. You hope to hell they are making a lot of noise because they're certainly not going to consider us anything more than a speed bump.

So...this sketch is one of my mental meanderings trying to remember what the coast looks like on a good day along the coast. We call them real estate days, and this is one of those paintings that sell real estate to unsuspecting folks from away, sad to say!

Coastal Memory • 8" X 8" watercolor framed to 12" X 12" • $250

#391 • Neighborhood

 Click here to purchase this painting #391

http://www.claudiadiller.com/blog.htm

Neighborhood.

Neighborhood • 8" X 8" watercolor framed to 12" X 12" • $250

#390 • A Piece of a Place in Maine

 Click here to purchase this painting #390

http://www.claudiadiller.com/blog.htm

I'm just messing around with watercolors and thought I'd paint a little piece of Maine. It really is extraordinarily beautiful here in the summer. The recent rain has greened everything back up, though the grass that got burned during the drought is still black. Never seen that before. But then there are a lot of things I haven't seen before during these turbulent times.

A Piece of a Place in Maine • 8" X 8" watercolor framed to 12" X 12" • $250

#389 • Maine's Landscape Quilt!

Click here to purchase this painting #389

http://www.claudiadiller.com/blog.htm

Once in a while I’ll be driving the backroads to Maine's western mountains in a minor cruise controlled-induced daze when as I crest another hill, a patchwork of colors and textures pokes me awake. The foothills are special that way, especially where remnants of dairy farms still dominate the landscape.

Not as cultivated and manicured as other states in New England I’ve been through, Maine can be proud of the inconsistent stitches of many different minds and hands that create the diverse landscape quilt it is.

Maine's Landscape Quilt • 8" X 8" watercolor framed to 12" X 12"  • $250