June Kellogg

Earth Connections

"Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life."

                                                                                                                                            Rachel Carson

My desire to discover a way to use my art to express the connection to the earth that I feel whenever I spend time in nature inspired this painting series. My use of actual plants achieves such a connection directly. I apply plants to the canvas, then let their shapes, textures, and rhythms inspire the marks and colors I employ while painting. Working intuitively, I build the paintings in layers. Often I use a black-and-white sketch that I have done en plein air for the initial composition and first layer of the painting. For the second layer, I respond to the rhythms and colors of the work to decide which aspects will remain to merge with aspects of the new layer.

          Although this is only a small example of connecting with nature, it expresses my conviction that all things are connected and the earth must be honored and treated well so that future generations will survive and flourish on this planet.