The Global Companions Commission of the Diocese of California is the in the business of helping those in need around this planet. A few of their efforts: supporting midwives in Sierra Leone, support basic health services in Malawi and clinics in Uganda. They promote youth groups who provide care to Native American missions. The GCC provides assistance in a variety of ways to Haiti. Someone else made the statement that they "make a dimension of difference". I was fortunate to have been asked to do a logo for them.
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There is a place in north Georgia called Athens Y Camp. I know six brothers who have quite the history at this place. They started attending when they were young boys, became camp counselors, sent their children there, continue to take on supportive roles and have dreams of grandchildren someday attending. Because I know these brothers well, I’ve seen the camp a handful of times and have not only appreciated seeing it’s beauty (near the legendary Tallulah Falls Gorge.. and the subject of brotherly conquests to its depths). Their stories of the “ice cream” hike, dancing with the locals at Mountain City Playhouse, writing letters home for meal tickets (I still have one from the youngest brother) and other comical tales have generated an explosion of laugher at many a family reunion. I think I’ve heard those stories countless times. They endure through the years binding six brothers and their families with this place that was and continues to be a pinpoint of their spirit. The mountain lake at Athens Y Camp was and is a place of swim lessons, “apple knocker” and boating. I wanted to paint about all the canoes one sees tethered to the dock ready for the next camper, the next brother, to dip his paddle in the water to set his course for the next adventure. Happy Birthday Joe.
This painting has changed a few times over the past year. One minute I'm sure I'm finished and then I rethink it and rework it. But this time...I'm done. This is a table with some treasured objects including some old pottery out of North Carolina, a little soapstone elephant my husband bought me on a trip to India, my mother's inkwell she filled with feathers she had collected on her morning walks and pods I collected in Hawaii.
Title: Table with NC Pottery Medium: Acrylic on Canvas Size: 36" x 24" You can't travel far along the coast without seeing a Great White Heron, a Wood Stork or an egret or two.
In order for me to feel like I've painted well, to feel like I have finished a painting and there is nothing else I can do to it, I have to have some sort of connection to the subject.There has to be a sense of purpose. Place or location tied to memory is a strong influence for me. It was my fortune to return recently to South Carolina (my home state) and the Lowcountry. It's the land of wading storks and herons, Piggly Wiggly grocery stores, majestic oaks dripping in Spanish moss, brain-scorching heat and humidity that melts into late afternoon bliss , Frogmore Stew and the most beautiful evening symphony of cicadas. One afternoon I strolled out onto a remote pier in the back waters of Charleston with my husband, my brother and his wife. There was another pier in the distance and at the end of it was a small open-air house. Inside was a man resting in a hammock. He was surrounded by the tidal waters rustling marsh grasses and the salty humid air. Small boats were tied up to moorings nearby. A heron flapped it's wings in the distance. What joyful solitude! The Hammock House is meant to be a respite, a place of refuge from whatever lurks around dark corners in a world that seems to be so lost and yet filled with such hope.
Two weddings to date this summer, one in Nashville, TN and one in Rayle, GA...one more to go! As I was looking at the wedding invitation for the next event, I started cutting it up and playing with the idea of using it in some sort of collage. The canvas is small (5"x7"x1.5") but large enough to carry the image as well as some of the elements from the invitation. I used the sides and the back with a little surprise tucked into the back of the canvas...another little painting of the couple. Best wishes Hugh and Caroline. I hope you have a long and happy life together! I found this wooden bowl and fell in love with it's shape and imperfections. It reminded me of an old wooden boat that I turned into a sandbox in our first house. So I filled this one with a few apples (instead of sand) and painted it.
"Apples in a Wooden Boat" Acrylic on Canvas 8" x 24" Three hinged panels create an altar telling a story of the past. A collection of feathers from morning walks placed in an inkwell and flowers from backyard garden beds once created for winged creatures; gifts of seeds and cuttings ;a broken vessel from another time, lost but always remembered.
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K.Wills
West Coast Abstract Painter with roots to the South Archives
December 2017
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