ACTION creates DESTINY
My inspiration behind this series is told in the title - Destiny.
I was reading an article recently that talked about how fate and destiny are different in the sense of fate being pre-determined and destiny being in your control. Destiny being that which you choose, not that which simply happens to you. Read the article here. This rings so true for me. I have had a gift for art since the day I was born. It’s all I did when I was a kid. That and reading. I have said my entire life that I would pursue my god-given talent but somehow I never put it to the forefront of priorities. Believe me, I had many other very fulfilling pursuits but now is the time for this. I have made art a priority in my life now.
I’ve been a hairdresser for 32 years and an Aveda salon owner for 23 years. As of this month I’ve officially etched out an extra day to paint! (Yes, I’ve only been painting in my spare time for the last two years) I’ve decreased my salon schedule from 4 days/wk to just 3! For various reasons I couldn’t go to art school (I had an interview at @emilycarru when I was 18) and pursued hairdressing instead. And it has been an amazing career. It too has fulfilled my creative needs (working as a @Redken platform artist and educator) and connected me to the most amazing people. Hair artists; insanely loyal trusting clients most of which have become dear friends (and many art collectors now!). I even found my best friend through my work! As grateful as I am for this, I always promised myself I would pursue my true gift. Fine art.
Why now? For those of you that are new here, I’ll catch you up to my story. I have been a caregiver to two parents battling Alzheimer’s and Vascular Dementia for the last 6 years, along with a full career and a wife and mom. Busy? Yes, but thats not the entire reason.
Two things…
1) Looking at the face of death and dying is one way to gain clarity on what you want to do with the rest of your life. (I hope that doesn’t sound too harsh) The twilight of my Mom and Dad’s years have had a silver lining, I’ve gotten crystal clear on what I want to do with this second half of my life (I’m 51, thats half way, right?)
2) Fear. Yup, I said it. I’m sure you’re not a stranger that experience either. It’s so easy to distract ones self with other priorities than do that one thing that you’re terrified to fail at. Now, I never doubted I had the talent, but to make a living doing art? Pffft. Who does that? That part seemed impossible and by now, I had a mortgage to pay, no benefits or pension (both hubby and I are self-employed) But you know that saying, how do you eat an elephant? one. bite. at. a. time. And I was lucky enough to be witness to such a thing. I have these two AMAZING girlfriends that both decided to pursue brand new careers. Careers that would take years of education. Education they’d have to do in their spare time, while working their day job to pay for their schooling (and support their kids as single Moms). Guess what? They did it in what seems like a blink of an eye to me. (Sorry Shawna and Sandra, I know it wasn’t a blink for you writing all those exams and papers). But they both accomplished their goals over a period of time. No, it wasn’t overnight but they started, they persevered and they completed their goals. So I thought to myself, just one baby step at a time. Don’t be overwhelmed by the large goal, focus on the micro goals. Do what you can when you can. And I did.
So here we are, you reading my blog and me writing a blog about this dream in the past tense. YAY for me and you! The Destiny Collection will be my 12th Collection since starting my painting career in June 2018. Dang that feels good to type! I wanted the title of this new collection to represent this transitional time. The day I lean deeper into my lifelong dream. (No big deal. 🤣) One word to describe my desire to return to my natural talent along with the hard work it would take to make it happen. DESTINY. Now, more about the work itself….
Hopefully it doesn't sound vain but you can see the results of my newly found time I had to devote to this body of work. My painting ability has risen to a higher level than ever before. It's amazing what comes from focus. In these west coast paintings I have worked like the Masters ( Vermeer, Rembrandt, Van Eyck, DaVinci) starting each with an underpainting. What’s that you ask? I’m glad you did. ;) It’s a technique where you first create an outline with one single colour and then gradually build on that by adding more details with thin layers of paint, but always leaving a tad of the previous underlay visible. Why? This process creates so many compounding hues and effects making the painting more dimensional and alive.
The colour palette I have chosen is quite focused… (light to dark) true sea blues; complementary warm sunrise/sunset tones of butter yellow and soft peach; with white and deep grey as grounding colours. I thought this not only represented the West Coast colours here on Vancouver Island but are a an inspiring nod to Spring. (hurry please Spring! Am I right?) The subjects in this series are my local haunts, beaches I spent a lot of time while growing up on Vancouver Island. Departure Bay, Shack Island and Neck Point here in Nanaimo. And of course, the majestic Chesterman Beach, in The Pacific Rim National Park (near Tofino). And finally, some dramatic alpine trees in Strathcona Park. Some of the paintings are calm and serene, some dramatic and bold, just like the Pacific Northwest itself with its ever changing weather fronts. Eight new original acrylic paintings on canvas depicting a dream of a lifetime, available for you to collect on Friday Feb 5th at 6pm PST. See ya then!
From the depth of my creative soul, the thanks goes to all of you art lovers that support me in this earnest passionate pursuit of beauty, fulfillment and magic.
xo Ronei
