Painting as Spiritual Practice
Peaceful Harbor by Melody Phaneuf
God speaks to each of us as he makes us, then walks with us silently out of the night.
These are the words we dimly hear:
You, sent out beyond your recall, go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.
Flare up like flame
and make big shadows
I can move in.
Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final. Don’t let yourself lose me.
Nearby is the country they call life. You will know it by its seriousness
~Rainer Maria Rilke
from The Book of Hours
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For as long as I can remember I have believed that my purpose is to make things. I recall long preschool afternoons with my mother, joyfully immersed in constructing dollhouses from cardboard boxes. I loved to “color,” and was always happy with crayons, paper, and imagination.
Delight with such activities lead to repetition. Hours and days melted away as I surrendered to the mystique of oil painting. I appreciate how I have come to understand visual forces and that I can reveal light with the color and texture of paint. It is this non-verbal language that allows full expression of idea and emotion. Developing vision has become a kind of spiritual practice~ a big shadow for the Creator to move in.
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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.
Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.
Make Your Life a Work of Art~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop
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Wonderful sentiment Melody, I feel the same way about my own preferred medium. Creating is truly a spiritual experience.
And the spirit shows in your work~ Great website, Charles. I enjoyed reading your About page