On Sunday, April 21, 2013, I finished a large (4′ x 3′) work on paper—painted with oil, watercolor and gesso.  It wasn’t until I was done that I realized the artwork was filled with my outrage and grief resulting from the horrific Boston bombings.  It has been proven that creating art of any type relieves stress, heals, and can help to release anxieties.  I was thankful to be able to put paint to paper these last few days.  It seems as though I have done that a lot this year.  There have been too many tragedies.  My prayers go out to all those maimed, in pain, missing loved ones and suffering. Read more

Here I am working on a new triptych painting about icebergs while, at the same time, thinking about news reports (John Vidal–The Guardian–March 25, 2013) linking the massive snowstorms and bitter spring to the dramatic loss of sea ice.   My “Iceberg Wasteland” oil painting (see below) was honored on May 1, 2013, to receive an Award of Excellence in the Manhattan Arts International Competition celebrating the Healing Power of Art.   Also please check out my interview at http://reneephillips.blogspot.com/2013/05/interview-with-artist-mary-lou-dauray.html“. Read more

  =&0=& oil, graphite, ink on gessoed paper   While traveling in Romania in the fall of 2011, I met a young woman who had recently moved back to this country to help her sick mother.  During the Ceaucescu communist regime, her mother had to work three jobs, had little food and worked in a highly polluted area…and on top of that had to take care of her children.  Before that era, her parents suffered the horrors of war.  This painting evoked an almost faceless woman, tired, worn, burdened…one of many thousands who starved and slaved thanklessly for decades.  These struggling women labor incessantly  not only in Romania but around the globe.

 

  “=&1=& oil, graphite, ink on gessoed paper   =&2=& oil, graphite, ink on gessoed paper   Inspiration for painting these sorrow-filled and pained faces came from a visit to holocaust sites in Eastern Europe.  Doing the artwork enabled me to begin a process of trying to comprehend the intense anguish I felt from seeing these memorials of terror.  Also, while painting, I kept being reminded of the seemingly endless struggle experienced by women and minorities against oppressive and destructive brutality.  With my art, I hope to bring attention to the purposelessness and viciousness of such unspeakable horrors. “Face 1” and “Face 3” were accepted into a juried show by the WCA (Women’s Caucus for the Arts) at 825 Gallery in Los Angeles (February 7 to March 2, 2012).     =&3=& oil, graphite, ink on gessoed paper   =&4=& oil,graphite, ink on gessoed paper   “Face 4” and “Face 5” paintings continue the series of women’s faces  I had started in late 2011. Read more

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This time of year is my very favorite because of the long days; beautiful blue-green twilights; and the realization that summer is just around the corner.  These thoughts bring me to the topic of those lazy, hot days of summer years ago when I relished putting on my simple, cooling flip-flops. Times ... 

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=&0=& Bird of Paradise     Watercolor  

During the last two months I have traveled to beautiful Hawaii, exciting New York, and experienced a memorable weekend in Montgomery, Alabama.  I decided to devote this blog to the paintings I did and photographs I took which relate to these three places.  I still continue to work on the paintings ... 

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As some of you may know, I have recently begun a series of paintings based on photos I took of trash washed up on a small section of beach in South Vietnam.  One of the purposes in my doing the paintings is to spotlight the disturbing accumulation of waste (most of it plastic) which is polluting ... 

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