Artist's Statement

   

I seem to be forever fascinated with the window as subject matter.
   
The first window I painted was when I lived in Taos, New Mexico, in a two story log cabin. When I looked out the window, all I saw was a sky an those huge free-floating New Mexico clouds. So today in my studio, I paint the deep blue skies and those weightless clouds. There is a sense of serenity and freedom.

There are still-life arrangements on the window sills and I will work on one painting in the morning and another in the late afternoon. So I am basically following the sun around the room. My days are spent watching the sunlight move across an object. Colors reflect off one another creating new colors, some of which exist only for a few minutes, because of the ever changing angle of the sun. I try to capture the moment as well as the feeling of the season. 

In summer, I paint whatever is in bloom at the time - hollyhocks, poppies, apples, watermelon, etc. In autumn, I paint the local harvest such as pumpkins, gourds of every shape and color, red and green chile peppers or maybe chamisa, golden cottonwood leaves, yarrow. I collect bones, shells, eggs, and convince friends and family to pose for me. I frequent flea markets and junk stores since I enjoy painting objects with a history, like copper pots, milk containers and kettles because there are dents and scratches from years of use in another time. 

Painting is spiritual in a primal way. When I place fruit or flowers on the window sill, it's almost like an ancient ritual or an altar where the seasons harvest or treasured goods were offered to the gods as a prayer or to give thanks.

People often ask me how long it takes to finish a painting. I say weeks, months, years, and some are never finished because nature is so wondrous and complex and can't be captured or completely understood. So, I paint to try to understand the world around me. It's an endless mosaic, a quest, a riddle. Sometimes it gives me some relief from the chaotic and often unjust world we live in. It allows me to find some solace in something beautiful and to believe we can create a better world or really to simply see the beauty that is already there, but rarely noticed.

Marnie Johnson

More on the technique of the artist.