Inspired by Agnes Martin

mini paintings by Rosa Phoenix

I've returned to the desert where I grew up, in Phoenix, Arizona. 

The desert of the American Southwest has always attracted artists, 

who are drawn to the open skies, raw landscape, sculpted rocks and dazzling light.

A couple of years ago I visited the Dia Arts Center in Beacon, New York. There I encountered for the first time, the works of Canadian-born artist Agnes Martin (1912 - 2004).

Her paintings couldn't be simpler: stripes in the palest colors, painted on a pencil-drawn grid.

Gratitude

by Agnes Martin

In concept, it seems one-note and one-dimensional, but actually, to be in the presence of these paintings is a transcendent experience. It's not something that translates as a reproduced image. 

Paintings emanate with the energy and intentions of the artist.

A painting is a lot more than just colors on a surface.

 Agnes Martin gallery at

Dia:Beacon

photo by Bill Jacobson

I still keep Agnes Martin's paintings in my heart.

I learned that she lived and worked in Taos, New Mexico, just like another of my favorite artists, Georgia O'Keefe.

The desert is a harsh environment. 

It is a huge, open space that makes a person feel 

very small, insignificant and vulnerable.

How do you capture that sense of space? 

The desert invites a different kind of artistic approach.

Lots of decoration and embellishments don't work. Ornate patterns don't work. Realism doesn't work. 

I think the maxim "Less is more" applies here.

Agnes Martin had a particular genius for this.

Agnes Martin

Here in the desert, I'm clearing my mind.

As an exercise, I created my own works, inspired by my desert surroundings, and Agnes Martin.

Using some small, square canvases, I used masking tape and latex paints to create a series of striped paintings. Here are some in progress, with masking tape on:

mini paintings in progress 

by Rosa Phoenix

I used desert colors.

When I put them together as an installation on one wall of my room, I was pleased with the result. It is a suggestion, rather than a literal interpretation, of desert beauty. 

I wake up and see the colors of the desert. I see the sky, the clouds, the earth, the light. I see Indian blankets. I see the striated colors of the rocks. I see sunrises and sunsets.

 This wall of mini paintings keeps my mind clear and creative.

I like the rhythm of the stripes.

wall of mini paintings by Rosa Phoenix

I feel so inspired by the beauty that surrounds me. 

Like Georgia O'Keefe and Agnes Martin before me, I find myself challenged to create in a whole new way.

Here is a video interview of Agnes Martin, where she talks about the painting process. It is quite enlightening.

Rainbow Ripples

This is my color therapy for SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) 

caused by lots and lots and lots of RAIN. 

 

 

I'm glad we have rain . . . 

but the gray, cold, dampness does tend to make me gloomy. 

I wanted to see the bright yellow rays of sunshine again!

Here are some paintings and color studies of what I call "rainbow ripples." 

I also call them 8, because they look like the number 8, 

and 8 turned sideways is infinity. 

Everyone who knows me, knows about my rainbow obsession. 

Bright colors make me happy!

 

I love the sense of expanding, opening, radiating. 

Ripples, rainbows, light, color and sound waves . . . 

all represent energy moving out into space.

 

These are the first 2 rainbow ripples paintings that I did in 2008. 

In the first paintings there were swimmers, swimming into infinity. 

Now I prefer just the abstract rainbow ripples by themselves.

 

 

I love making these paintings!

Also . . . 

My sweetie brought me a wonderful gift to cheer me up!

A book on colors and pigments, and their meanings and uses.

 

A set of watercolor pencils! 

Plus, more drawing pencils . . .

As soon as this rain ends, 

I'm going to go out and try out my new pencils to do some watercolor on location!