Tugging at Heart Strings

I've only been painting seriously for the past 3-4 years, and during that time there have been several pieces I have painted that have evoked a strong personal emotion.  Usually they have been pieces that I have created that focused on my father who passed away 4 years ago today.   

I recall that shortly after his death I tried to do a piece that focused on this favorite cowboy boots.  It was still very painful but somehow putting my feelings on a canvas helped with my healing process.  Since then, I have created 3 more pieces that show him as a young cowboy on the professional rodeo circuit.   It is difficult to explain the emotional experience you feel as an artist when painting something so very personal.  

Riding the Buckskin

This is the last piece I painted of my dad in 2014.  I call it "Riding the Buckskin" and it is painted from an old black and white newspaper photo taken probably in 1959 or 1960.  He is young, strong and full of life.  I wouldn't arrive in his life until 1961 and he wouldn't leave mine until 2011.  

This week I had that same emotional experience as a painting I started for a Hearts and Carnivale themed art show for a local gallery that I am associated with.  The piece just morphed into something so much more.  I had the image of a silver heart painted on a web of ribbons in my mind and that was what I was thinking of when I started to paint on this 12 x 16 inch canvas.  

At some point, I realized that rather than painting just a simply silver heart, I really needed paint my treasured puff heart pendant that once belonged to my dearest Aunt Marilou and was at that moment hanging around my own neck.  

My relationship with my aunt was close throughout my whole life.  She was my only aunt; my dad was her baby brother and she was my dad's only sister and they always enjoyed a close special relationship.  Some of my fondest adult memories are of those two together and the stories they would tell.  Both had a great sense of humor and could keep you in stitches for hours.  

I often admired her silver puffed heart necklace and she wore it often.  Now it is around my neck just as frequently and I love hearing my little grandson hold it gingerly and say in his sweet two year old voice, "Pretty heart."  Maybe someday one of my granddaughters or granddaughter-in-laws will proudly wear this simply necklace and remember me in the same way.

Heart Strings- An Original Acrylic on 12 x 16 stretched canvas

For more of my work, please check out my website at julietownsendstudio.com

Telling Stories With a Paintbrush

Today, I'm thinking of the words to one of my favorite Bread songs "If".  The song so beautifully asks the question, "If a picture paints a thousand words, then why can't I paint you?" and that makes me think about how powerful the visual image really is.  For thousands of years, man has tried to capture a moment in time on a flat surface using mixtures of minerals and plants to give him or her COLOR.  Now I'm not an art historian, but it is obvious that art has always impacted the human race and has played a very important role in our history.  Good art evokes emotion at the most basic human level.  It will almost always cause one to stop and ponder its meaning or reflect on a distant memory in ones past or a currently pleasure.  

As an artist it is always my goal that each piece I paint tell a story to those that see it.  I am always drawn to subjects or compositions that have a connection to my own past or to things that have great meaning to me.  

I grew up in the woods and hills of the Ozarks in Central Missouri.  My family owned 20 acres of land and 90% of it was covered with thick woods and even thicker, almost impenetrable underbrush.  Poison ivy, chiggers, ticks and copperheads were in abundance and were just a few of the things we had to battle with on almost a daily basis.  Besides dealing with a few pests, my childhood was one of amazing freedom to use my imagination, to run, to climb and just to just be free to play.  I loved being outdoors and would frequently take long walks up the gravel road, play in my clubhouse or ride my bike.  

I recall when I was about 13 my dad became concerned about me walking the half mile up the country gravel road to the highway to check the mail each day. With tears and pleading on my part, we were finally to arrive at a suitable compromise-I had to from that point on carry the unloaded shot gun with me to act as a deterrent in the event that some unknown criminal element would be traveling down the road and might wish to do me harm.  My how times have changed in 40 years!

Last week I decided after seeing a couple of pictures that my photographer son had taken of my grandson walking in a field of very tall grass that I had to try to capture that youthful spirit with my own paintbrush.  I thought about my childhood and that of my children and grandchildren.  How much more complicated just living is in 2014 than in 1974.  

This world has become very scary and I fear from my grandchildren but for this moment my grandson is simply being a little boy on an adventure as little boys have been doing for hundreds of years.  I could imagine he was hunting for some hidden foe or enemy.  Perhaps he is hunting for a deer or a wild turkey to bring home for his dinner.  Maybe he is just hunting for grasshoppers.  It could be a vast number of possibilities, but I decided to give my composition a stick in his hand because almost all boys will pick up a stick and make it a pretend sword or spear while out on an adventure in the tall grass.

I decided to call my piece "Slaying Dragons" and I must be on the right track because shortly after posting my last blog entry I received these two emotional comments on my Facebook page about this painting and I just wanted to share them with you today and I hope you too enjoy my little STORY!

Fellow Missourian and artist:

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  Larry Smail reminds me of me as a boy!
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• Julie Diveley Townsend actually Larry Smail it reminds me of my childhood growing up in Missouri too. I was spent a lot of time exploring our 20 acres of woods and hills. Spent my summers building forts and going on pretend adventures.

  
  Larry Smail we had great lives as youth!!!!!!!!!
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 Artist and fellow student of master artist Jerry Yarnell:

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  Jeff Riddle My mind is a whirlwind of Mideviel Engish folklore and tales of great adventures, brutal battles and the triumph good over evil. You've done such wonderful work that you not only captured my attention and drawn me into the painting, you sent my mind on a journey back in time when I was that little boy. Totally awesome. If my brain ever slows down enough where I can jot down my thoughts I'll share it with you. Nothing better than a little story to go with your work. I occasionally do that with my woodcarvings.

  
  

"Slaying Dragons" is an original acrylic painted on a 10" x 10"gallery wrapped canvas and will be available along with many of my other pieces on my website at julietownsendstudio.com.

Packing up the Baby and Saying Goodbye

If you are interested in viewing more of my work then please check out my gallery page on my website at : JulieTownsendStudio.com


The experience of packing up a painting to ship off to a new home is one of mixed emotions for me as the artist.  It is both exciting and a wee bit sad.  I, as I assume most artists do, pour their heart into their creations.  So knowing that it is the last time you will actually see the piece has just a bit of sadness attached.  That emotion is very quickly pushed aside as I realize that a complete stranger to me also appreciates my work and is willing to part with their hard earned resources in this prearranged exchange. 

So yesterday, we followed the steps outlined in a very helpful blog I read a few weeks ago about preparing to ship paintings.  We bought that 1 1/2 thick foam insulation sheet from Home Depot and cut out (2) 18 x 24 pieces.  Brad went out to the shed and pulled out two pieces of cardboard from our stash while I retrieved the tape gun.  I snapped this last picture as we secured "Dreams in Shades of Gold" for the journey to Tawas City, Michigan.

As an artist I have set myself a number of small milestones that measure my progress.  This act of packing up my painting was one of those milestones....Sell a piece to a complete stranger!  Up to this point every painting I have sold has been to a friend or acquaintance.  No longer is that the case.  I have achieved a small but significant goal as an artist and this morning my McDonald's coffee is especially tasty!

Packing up my painting for shipping to the new owner

Prints are available at Fine Art America site.  Just follow this link:  http://fineartamerica.com/featured/dreams-in-shades-of-gold-julie-townsend.html

Dreams of Shades of Gold