R. Kipling, poem “If”

November 17, 2021

Exhibit at The Culture Box: “Conversations -reconstructed” 

How does a painter work within the boundaries of a writers vision to respond to the poem, poetry, words? This has been an amazing journey for me to rediscover the beauty of creativity and working with other creatives.


I struggled for months trying to put the poetry into paint, the voice of figurative image kept calling to me...so it began -the figures emerged, working side by side on two large canvases they came forth. One to represent the famed, 'Jameson', who Kipling based his famous poem "If", and the other canvas images of two young lads to represent Covell's poem, "Being You".  The painting was brutal, the figures uncooperative, the voice getting louder, until at last I realized I was listening to the wrong voice. I was listening to the poet's voice and not my own. With one voice quieted and misting through the words as I reread the poems I began to realize a new image that would be more universal.


As I reworked the canvases over and over the figures came out, and the landscape became the backdrop to what I realized was the louder voice. That was the voice of the figure standing in front of the painting,"You", the viewer are the figure who reads the poetry, who looks into the landscape and finds your own story, your own response, your own connection to the poetry, you are the figure in the painting , you complete the painting.

Abstract in Element: Art and Health

By Laura J. Pettit • November 17, 2021
I began painting abstract works when I became fascinated by images that I cropped out of representational works about 15 years ago. This began a long journey into abstracting what I saw in front of me and taking the painting where my imagination would lead. The work is painted with a specific orientation. A description of their arrangement and orientation makes it possible to understand how the parts relate to each other. Many of these abstract orientation can be adjusted without compromising the strength of the composition. I find with many of these non-representational pieces they are not defined by one orientation but can be turned around to display an entirely different composition, I call them flip paintings. My work tends to carry certain elements of landscape, so I hope as you view the painting it might take you to a familiar place perhaps in your childhood memory or draw you into exploring what it is communicating to you now. Think of how you look at nature or the landscape in nature, you have to step back to see the whole picture but may be drawn into look more closely at a small detail. I hope that you can experience beauty and perhaps, a place or memory as you look at the paintings. While living in Ireland I experienced the richness of color and light and texture in the landscape of this beautiful country. This has set me on a path to continue my exploration of images through texture, color and light in my abstract pieces.