RAETTE MEREDITH, Oils, Palette Knife on Canvas

Raette Meredith, Oils, palette Knife on CanvasI first found satisfaction with creating art when I was a young child. I don’t remember any time in my life when I wasn’t drawing or building something. As an adult, I find that painting with oils and a palette knife is the most challenging, and has held my attention longer than any other medium.

Raette Meredith at workWhen painting, time stops, I am completely focused on the subject I am painting. This focus keeps me grounded. Painting is not an option for me, it is something that I simply must do.

Nothing is permanent, perfectly static, or still. The same energy that creates the ocean waves and forces the grass to lay on its side is the energy that connects us to the universe. We may feel its whisper as a breeze on our face, hear it shake the leaves, or watch as it pushes the clouds into formation. Often I feel burdened by demands of daily life, but when in nature I am reminded that all circumstances are impermanent. Whether feeling burdened or free, the winds serve as a gentle reminder that even in the impermanence of our circumstances, the wind still blows, and new life still reaches for sunlight.

Raette works on a building-size mural paintingI try to capture the impermanence in nature in my paintings, moving my knife across the canvas in the same manner the subject was formed. As I work through the painting, colors begin to vividly emerge and my eyes become more sensitive to the changes of color in light and shadow. Upon completion of a painting I feel refreshed as if given a new day. It is my hope that the viewer also feels nature’s impermanence and refreshment when looking on these paintings.

I also enjoy painting custom, grand-scale murals on the interior and exteriors of buildings. Nothing compares to the feeling created when I start with an image on a sheet of paper no larger than 8"x11", and blow it up on a full size building that can be seen a 1/2 a mile away. The physical work involved in painting large scale can be an adrenaline rush.

"April Aspens" (c) Raette Meredith
"April Aspens" by Raette Meredith (24"x18")
"Mule Ears in May" (c) Raette Meredith
"Mule Ears in May" by Raette Meredith (24"x18")
"Aspens and Spring Grasses" (c) Raette Meredith
"Aspens and Spring Grasses" by Raette Meredith (20"x16")

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