Humble Beginnings: The Sun Triumphant Trilogy

Creating art had been lost on me, for various reasons, for over a decade; so much so that when a friend visited me in Chicago in 2006 bearing the gift of art supplies, I genuinely had no clue what to do with them. While I was grateful for his generosity, I was baffled by his reasoning for buying them because (as I told myself) I was not an artist. "I'll never use these," I distinctly remember thinking to myself.

In the months that followed, as I found myself in uncomfortable places from therapy (dealing with monumental family and relationship issues), I started turning to the art supplies. I quickly found that tapping into my creativity soothed my soul, and sometimes, it offered me a new perspective on the issues at hand. I started out making simple greeting cards for friends. For these, I mostly used rubber stamps and various types of paper. From there, I dabbled with charcoal and pastels. Over time, my experiments became more complex. Then the 7-year relationship that I was in came to an end in all its fiery glory. We had three painfully long weeks of living together until I moved back to Buffalo, and as a distraction, I once again turned to the trusty art supplies for comfort. Three birthdays were coming up-- three people who mean a lot to me, including the friend who had bought me the art supplies in the first place-- and I knew that if I didn't create cards for them then, that they would not get created at all because I was on the brink of experiencing significant upheaval in my life. As I set up my work station on the dining room table that day, I felt that I was about to create something different from anything I'd created before. Wanting to take my work to the next level, I challenged myself to create pieces that transcended being merely cards; I wanted them to serve as works of art in their own right. From that session, these three pieces were created:

"Sun Triumphant I"

Officially, these served as my first genuine collages, created on the 13th of September 2008. For all three pieces, I used construction paper, rubber stamps, inked sponges, and magazine clippings. (Yes, I finally raided my magazine stash, not just for inspiration, but to incorporate into my work.) Being fascinated with "sunface" art most of my life, I gravitated toward the rubber stamp of the sun. The sun motif across all three pieces was unintentional, it emerged on its own, but subconsciously I was channeling the energy of the sun to triumph during that unpleasant and difficult time. Thus, the Sun Triumphant trilogy was born.

"Sun Triumphant II"

 

 

 

 

"Sun Triumphant III"

 

As I packed up my supplies afterward, I had no idea when I would have the chance to create like this again. However, I was satisfied enough with the results to recognize that I had stumbled upon something worth exploring further.  So it was there, in the dying embers of a long-term relationship, that my journey as an artist quietly began.

Featured in this post: Sun Triumphant I   Sun Triumphant II   Sun Triumphant III
All current artwork can be found in my profile at Fine Art America. Thank you for your time and your support.