Carole Sikes Artist / Writer in Austin, Texas

I'm reading MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH MODERN ART about Katharine Kuh ( 1904-1944, pronounced Coo, I think). She was curator for Art Institute of Chicago; before that a gallery owner and later a critic. As a child she had polio. Like FDR she overcame it although lived with pain and difficulty. She was friends with so many of the early 20th century painters of America and Europe. Her job as curator took her to museums and artist's studios all over the world. She talks about the thrill of seeking and acquring exceptional art (from collectors and elsewhere) for the museum. One of the most interesting and provocative of her quotes that has resonance with me is the discussion of looking and seeing..."quite different processes...and a prerequisite. We can learn to look but to see is another matter... Looking is an occular affair; seeing demands total integration, both concious and unconcious...Seeing is the result of intuition and knowledge, of concentration and dream, of strong emoti...

The following 6 images complete my "close-ups" from nature. My intention in these works on paper has been to make ordinary things appear extraordinary, or at least important. To see with the artist's eye means to find and concentrate on what attracts one to a subject or a scene. I have attempted to isolate what is attractive to me in each of the following examples. Often it is motion, perspective, color, line, shapes or shadows. All 12 works were photographed and then painted with oil on paper in my studio. Austin's recent triple digit temperatures have made plein aire work less appealing than working in the studio. Paintings are matted in white museum board, beveled and available for purchase. When matted the dimensions are 20 x 26.