Deck the Halls – really.

I’m a member of the New Hampshire Art Association and every year they have a holiday show for members in December. Even though as a Baha’i I don’t celebrate Christmas, I do enjoy all of the visuals of the season – the lights, the ornaments, the shows, and, especially, the evergreen trees and wreaths. (Love the piney smell.)

So I decided to paint something in a holiday theme especially for the show, and this is what I came up with, which I titled “Tannenbaum,” which is, of course, German for “Christmas Tree” or “pine tree.”

 

I usually don’t work with any specific visual image. I prefer to work in a pure abstract fashion. As my friend and painter Robert Wilson told me recently: An abstract artist “should work in pure thought, and pure thought is that not influenced by any ideologies or opinions.” Or, in my case, any preconceived images.

Of course, many artists do start with some idea or conception. And I usually have some kind of a notion when I start a painting. But in this case, I tried to visualize a Christmas tree stand, all light up with red lights or globes, in a snow storm. And that’s what I came up with.

I also put an earlier painting into the show:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

which I shamelessly renamed “Holiday Traffic” in an effort a pure commercialism. And guess what? Someone liked it and bought it.

Is this the power of a name? Or the beauty of the work? I hope it is the beauty of the work.