Showing posts with label Older Artwork. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Older Artwork. Show all posts

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Genesis

Here is a photograph of a painting I completed in 1993 entitled "Genesis":



Genesis: Beginning - The time or circumstances of something's coming into being.

The post “Innocence Lost
had me digging through photographs of my own baby shower (held a mere 4 days before Caden burst onto the scene, 5 whole weeks before his due date!). I was amused to find this (rather unflattering) snapshot of Life imitating Art (10 years later in 2003):



While I didn’t give birth to the beginning of the world I certainly did bring forth a true force of nature!

If you can’t tell, I was quite ill and uncomfortable in my pregnancy. In all of my years of celebrating and painting the pregnant female form, I never once imagined that pregnancy would be as dreadful an experience as it was for me. How I envy those women who had ideal pregnancies. Sometimes the things that inspire us most, are those we dream of, rather then truly understand. I don’t think I have painted a pregnant woman since experiencing it for myself! And you may note that the Pregnant Women I painted while pregnant
were not especially joyous.

Well, perhaps with the exception of my award winning piece entitled “Expectations”:




They say time heals all wounds. Maybe someday I will be re-inspired to celebrate the cycle of life in the symbol of the pregnant female form, but for now, I am more content exploring the concept through botany!

Friday, January 2, 2009

Innocence Lost

This time of year seems to have most of us reminiscing the past and contemplating the future, so I think it’s fitting to begin the year on a bit of a philosophical note. While digging through the Fraser family archives, I unearthed a heavy load of childhood memories. I came across some old photographs from my mother’s baby shower; it’s strange to think of your unborn self, to see the image of your expectant parent, and to experience a time and place that was about you, but happening before you truly existed. Oddly enough, the thing that struck me the most was seeing my favorite childhood stuffy “Henry Dog” in all of his sweet and shiny newness.

Here is “Henry Dog” on the shower gift table in 1973:



And here he is represented in my 2002 painting “
Innocence Lost”:



I still have “Henry Dog”. He’s worn and tattered, packed away, but not forgotten. Like childhood I guess; it’s still with us, even as we eagerly push it aside to become adults. Why are we in such a hurry to grow up? What drives each of us an individual? How do the people, places, objects and conditions of our lives shape who we are and who we will become? At what point, which events and circumstance, lead to our Innocence Lost? Is it just something we can find again, packed away in a box?

Monday, December 22, 2008

Christmas Past

Here are some Amy E. Fraser original Christmas cards from Christmas past:

1997



1999



2002



2003



2004



Unfortunately I couldn’t find the entire set, but like the images above, the missing cards were equally *unique*, definitely not your usual Christmas iconography. Overall, I think the card illustrations were based on my reaction to the stress of the holidays rather then an actual celebration of Christmas, but whatever the case, I think the friends and family who received these cards generally understood the sentiment and found them to be quite humorous (as was intended). Every year, all year long, people would ask what crazy thing I was going to come up with next. It was a great conversation piece as well as a way to work through the Christmas stress. However, the series ended in 2005 when two of the Christmas card stars passed away within weeks of each other (our beloved cat and dog, the Great Dane, “Loki” and the Havana Brown “Kitty”). I was so heart broken, I couldn’t seem to make myself create the Christmas cards anymore. I’m getting better about the passing of my beloved fur babies and we have since added two new crazy characters to our family (black and gray striped mother and son tabbies Jasmine and Tonka) that would love to be the stars of future Christmas cards… so we’ll see what next year brings. I hope you all are enjoying your holidays, having fond memories of Christmas past and working toward creating fun new memories and traditions for Christmas future! Happy Holidays!

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