July - August 2018, Carnegie Arts Showcase, Contemporary Art, Carnegie Arts Center, Turlock, CA. 2 paintings

Gallery Photo, 'Blue Iris'

'Blue Iris'

In this series, World of Abstraction, my paintings are based upon philosophical ideas, and addressing the unknown. Paintings by Denise Hartley.

“Passage Way”.   The opening into another dimension. How do we reach the unknown within ourselves? How do we learn about ourselves?

To Know Yourself is to Forget Yourself

BY PEMA CHÖDRÖN

So to know yourself is to forget yourself. This is to say that when we make friends with ourselves we no longer have to be so self-involved. It’s a curious twist: making friends with ourselves is a way of not being so self-involved anymore. Then Dogen Zen-ji goes on to say, “To forget yourself is to become enlightened by all things.” When we are not so self-involved, we begin to realize that the world is speaking to us all of the time. Every plant, every tree, every animal, every person, every car, every airplane is speaking to us, teaching us, awakening us. It’s a wonderful world, but we often miss it. It’s as if we see the previews of coming attractions and never get to the main feature.

"Mitochondria I", mixed media and gold leaf on wood, 4' x 6', 2002. Private collection.

"Mitochondria". Each of our cells can contain thousands of mitochondria. They are used by our bodies to convert molecules into energy. They are independent, and genetically distinct from the cell nucleus, and can manufacture their own proteins. It is thought that mitochondria originated as a separate single-cell organism that became symbiotic with their hosts, as to be indispensable. Mitochondrial DNA is a remnant of a past existence as a separate organism. Mitochondria contain their own DNA, which we only inherit from our mothers, and can be used to trace maternal links (The American Heritage Science Dictionary).

“Jade Disc”, acrylic paint on canvas,     4’ x 6’, 2002.

“Jade Disc”.  This disc is called a bi disc, it is a flat jade disc, with a circular hole in the center. They were used in Neolithic times, burial objects, undecorated, about 3000 B.C.E. The jade objects represent Heaven and were laid on the diseased.

Tao”, mixed media, acrylic on canvas, 4’ x 6’, 2002.

This painting represents the beginning of the universe. The red rays piercing the disc, are the sparks that create the Ten Thousand Things in our existence.

Verse 1.

The Tao that is unnamable is the Source of the Heaven and the Earth.

Verse 40.

The name, once introduced, becomes the Mother of the Ten Thousand Things.

Returning (to the basis) is the motion of Tao,
Yielding is the work of Tao,
The Ten Thousand Things in the universe are born of being,
Being is born of nothingness.

 Verse 42.

Tao begot one.
One begot two.
Two begot three.
And three begot the Ten Thousand Things. Lao Tzu, The Tao Te Ching

"Silent Passage", oil on gessoed wood, 4' x 6', 2003.

 Lao Tzu, The Tao Te Ching.

The reason water can keep changing its form is because it is essentially formless. Its form is determined by what is around it. Put it in a cup, and it will be cup-shaped. Put it in a ravine, and it will be river-shaped. It needs no form of its own, because it harmonizes with everything around it, taking other beings as its outline, instead of imposing itself upon others. 

“Zen Drawing”, mixed media on wood, 3’ x 4’, 2002. Private Collection.

“Zen Drawing”.  Enlightenment, the first principle is possible acknowledging the everything and everyone is Buddha-nature. Enlightenment is possible to everyone. Enlightenment in Buddhism, or for the Taoist sage, is not expressible in words, or logical thought. Intuitive understanding is necessary, acknowledging that eternity is here and now.
Fredric Liberman

Zen Buddhism And Its Relationship
to Elements of Eastern And Western Art
http://artsites.ucsc.edu/faculty/lieberman/zen.html

Birth of a Painting Series IX: "Solid Footing, Trees and Rocks".

" A beautiful thing calls forth things that are 

beautiful in kind..."

                                  Tung Chung-Shu

Nature Series:
My art consists of a combination of video installations and paintings, which form an exploration of the sights and sounds of water. Focusing on a natural vista, the viewer may experience the crashing of waves, the roar of a whitewater river, and the sounds of a brook working its way downward, in the cycle of movement, back to the ocean.

Photo by D.A. Hartley

My paintings create a tactile experience for the viewer, transforming the gallery into a visual world of life sized natural forms which mirror the existing environment. The paintings are sculptural, created on large wood panels, with deep texture, stains and oils are worked into the wood. The videos are of natural events, surrounding the viewer with the gentle or crashing sounds of water, designed to include the viewer within the artwork.

"Lost Canyon".

Paintings in this video:
“Lost Canyon”, mixed media on wood, 4’ x 6’, 2005. Private collection.
“Blossom Peak”, mixed media on wood, 4’ x 6’, 2004. Private collection.
“Aspen”, mixed media on wood, 4’ x 6’, 2002. Private collection.
“Starlight”, mixed media on canvas, diptych, 76” x 54”, 2004. Private collection.
“Old Friends”, mixed media on wood, 4’ x 8’, 2001. Courtesy of the artist.
“Old Oak and Rock”, oil on canvas, unfinished, 2017-2018.
”Cypress and Basalt”, mixed media on wood, 4’ x 6’, 2006. Private collection.
“Aspens”, mixed media, gold on wood, diptych, 6’ x 8’, 2006. Private collection.
“Tao”, cast bronze, 10.5” x 22”, 2002. Collection of the artist.
Art Exhibitions for this series:

1. Water! 2008, Conley Art Gallery, Fresno, CA. Solo Exhibition
2. Icons, 2004, Three Person Exhibition, Fourth Street Art Gallery, Berkeley, CA.
3. Temporal Man in Nature, 2002, Cort Gallery, Three Rivers, CA. Solo Exhibition.

Thank you for visiting my art blog,
Denise

Birth of a Painting Series X: "Mountains, Clouds, and Streams".

Birth of a Painting Series X, “Mountains, Clouds, and Streams”.

“The world is a world of becoming. To see being in becoming, and becoming in being, that is enlightenment”. D.T. Suzuki

Empirical and experiential sculptural paintings, within a natural environment, the paintings are a combination of massive sculptural grounds, forming a reflection of nature, reflecting the temporal nature of man.

"Mountains, Clouds, and Streams", mixed media on wood, triptych, 4' x 6', 2005. Courtesy of the artist.

Nature Series: Themes of Taoism by Denise Hartley. Sculptural paintings on wood.

“My paintings are influenced from real physical spaces that exist in nature. The painting is intrinsic to the wood panels that I use. A tree was cut down to create this panel; the life of the tree encourages the finished piece. My paintings begin more as sculptural projects. I assemble, sand, stain, and texture, with an eye to the wood grains. I apply the paint by rubbing the surface. The surface inspires the art.” D.A. Hartley

"Tao", cast bronze, 10.5" x 22", 2002.

Birth of a Painting Series VII: "Douglas Creek". 2015

         Douglas Creek is one of many small creeks that come directly from the high-country snowmelt and natural springs. It is our drinking water for our cabin in Stanislaus National Forest, located at 6,700 ft. where the water is delivered by gravity flow. After passing by our cabin it enters the South Fork of the Stanislaus River, which begins at (9,635 ft. (2,937 m) Leavitt Peak, in Tuolumne County and eventually enters the San Joaquin River, and drains into the San Francisco Bay.

          This little mountain stream and river have sustained life well beyond our time. There are parts of wagons used by the settlers trying to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains. There are obsidian points from the Miwok Native American tribe and grinding stones. The tiny stream banks are lined with willow, horsetail herb, mints, orchids, and many other wildflowers. As a child I wandered where ever I wished, with the caveat that, if lost, head downhill. I have slept outdoors with bear and mountain lions as possible visitors. Deer have taken a nap beside me. Chipmunks and Golden Mantle squirrels have sat in my hands. I trust the four- legged critters but keep a wary eye on the two legged.

          Climate Change is changing our landscape quickly. We had to saw down six large beautiful Ponderosa trees this year alone. They are dying at a rapid rate, from bark beetles (love the heat), and a fungus, which spreads from fir tree roots. This was all predicted by a U.C. Berkeley scientist that wrote about how pollution affects the photosynthesis process, especially in the Ponderosa Pines. I watched a fire burn this summer across the river, tree torches burning brightly in the night. 

Denise Hartley

Birth of a Painting Series VI, "Nobe Young Falls". 2017

Nature influences my art, every aspect of nature in the wild is so precious. In California we have been experiencing an extreme drought, which is causing fires, and tree disease and plant die out in our Sierra Nevada Mountains. We have lost thousands of trees in the last few years, and the loss of natural habitat is shocking.
My painting “Nobe Young Falls”, is a landscape created in oil paints. Nobe Young Falls are in Sequoia National Forest. I used to have a home in Camp Nelson, and the falls were near my home. It is an area that was homesteaded by my son’s great, great, grandmother, Nellie Marshall (the niece of John Marshall, discoverer of Gold! in California). She homesteaded 200 acres near Ponderosa, CA. in the Sierra Nevada’s of California, in 1870’s. She married Nathan Dillon, a gold rush businessman, and owner of land that is now Dillonwood Sequoia Grove in Sequoia National Park.
Nobe Young Falls are now a destination, when I hiked there it was an unmarked trail. If you would like to visit these falls there are now directions posted. https://www.world-of-waterfalls.com/california-nobe-young-falls.html

Here is a map of the Giant Sequoia Groves in the Sequoia National Forest. Camp Nelson, Ponderosa, and Dillonwood are located on the second map: Giant Sequoia Groves in Sequoia National Forest.

Birth of a Painting Series V, "Golden Falls".

As an artist I seek balance in my life. As a healer, I use healing in my art process.
As an artist I seek balance in my life. As a healer, I use healing in my art process.
As an artist and healer, I address the healing of our planet. I try to approach Climate Change, and our damaged environment, more as a spiritual issue. First, we must heal ourselves, and by doing so we will become aware of the reality of the global stress that humanity has caused.
My paintings are often bought by healing organizations and individuals. "Golden Falls", was a corporate purchase by Kaweah Delta Medical Center, Visalia, California. They have bought several of my paintings. 
Please promote self-healing by visiting beautiful sites in nature. This artwork was inspired by a small waterfall in Stanislaus National Forest. The trail to the falls was a delight, each flower will delight and encourage you, and the sounds of the forest, and stream, will lead you back to your true self. 
My paintings are often bought by healing organizations and individuals. "Golden Falls", was a corporate purchase by Kaweah Delta Medical Center, Visalia, California. They have bought several of my paintings. 

Please promote self-healing by visiting beautiful sites in nature. This artwork was inspired by a small waterfall in Stanislaus National Forest. The trail to the falls was a delight, each flower will delight and encourage you, and the sounds of the forest, and stream, will lead you back to your true self.