Sunday, July 31, 2011

Midnight in "The Garden Of The Eternal Waltz"

The now iconic image of the "Bird Girl" statue that once graced the grounds at Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia was probably slated for anonymity before 1994, when a photo of the unusual grave marker was used for the cover of the best selling novel by John Berendt, "Midnight In The Garden Of Good & Evil". which later became a movie in 1997. The statue itself was originally sculpted in 1936 by Sylvia Shaw Judson.


The first time I saw the book cover, "Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil", I was intrigued. I only recently seen the 1997 Clint Eastwood directed movie, starring  John Cusack and Kevin Spacey. The imagery from the book cover featuring the now infamous, "Bird Girl" statue had stuck with me for many years. Thus, my idea for this piece was interpreted solely from that title and imagery. My story of a beautiful young woman who comes to life only during the "fullest" of moons and meanders around the garden deep into the night!





Saturday, July 23, 2011

The Bog

"The Bog" On a smuggy Summer evening in July, the air is filled with incessant chirping, croaking, and fluttering sounds....Yes, life is quite active and abundant here. What is heard is not always necessarily seen, but if you squint yer eyes and peer off into the distance, you can spy the community of fireflies hovering just above will-o-the-wisp and a healthy chorus of frogs.~S


This, my latest painting was totally inspired by listening to the continuous sounds of tree frogs, crickets, cicadas, and whatever other forms of life that sing the melodies of a hot and muggy Summer evening. I can see the lightning bugs of fireflies come out at dusk, which take me back to my youth and the fun me and the other kids would have trying to catch them inside empty jelly jars. All this activity just begining as the sun sets can make me only imagine such a lively world evolving on a larger a larger stage such as "The Bog".