Tina Blondell
Artist
Statement
|
The current body of work retells the stories of women, mythical and biblical, real and imagined. These archetypal images enquire into the essence of human experience revealed in feminine form.
The
watercolor paintings had their origin in the personal experience of
realizing the ways that life transforms us. The artist’s own
realization of how she had been marked by events and emotions became
clear in her identification with the fragile and fearless figures that
emerged from her imagination. Through the creative process, pain had
been transformed into beauty. What
began as an inward, healing process moved outward to reclaim the
history of images of the feminine, ranging from the prehistoric Venus
of Willendorf to present-day women who embody the energy of their
female antecedents. They all have chosen a path of exposure of both
their outward identities and their inner selves. For these women, the
depth of their experiences has reached the surface, symbolically in the
form of the motifs that cover their skin. The tattoo lattice sometimes
extends to the children the women hold, as an imprinting of the memory
of ancestral female power. The
process of creating these images begins with a concept, first
visualized, then realized through finding the right model, props, and
lighting–with photographs used as an aid. These paintings depict real
women, not idealized images, so that each model’s real beauty is
reflected back through the work. The completing of a painting is a
labor-intensive process that can take many weeks. These works embody a
paradox: while rendering strong imagery, the delicacy of watercolor
conveys the psychic openness of the whole process. Recent paintings in
oil strive to realistically capture the human form, seeing in the lives
of contemporary women an abiding spirit. When
the work, very personal in its development, is finished, it is ready to
be shared. These paintings are a form of visual storytelling and they
welcome the strong and involved reactions of viewers. This work speaks
directly from the soul of the artist and invites viewers to enter into
in its transformative nature. -John Mendelsohn |
| Recent Works | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999| 1998 and earlier Curriculum Vitae | Contact | Exhibition Schedule All images © Tina Blondell. All rights reserved. Web design by Karl Jones |