Landscape painting Roman ruins of Ostia Antica is the recent painting series of mine. I’ve worked on it since the Covid- 19 pandemics has started and subsequently we got stuck in quarantine. What has started as reveries and remembering some travels at first, has become a much loved painting subject of me. I’ve loved history since I can remember, Roman history is a subject I could read about hours and hours. No doubt this has been part of the reason of my artistic diving in the scenography of ruins, silent witnesses of forgotten times. But then so many connotations have emerged while I’ve been studying the subject to work further on. One of those is certainly the fact that inhabitants of Ostia, like Romans, experienced many waves of malaria outbreaks. The 9th century A.D. outbreak of malaria in Ostia even left the city abandoned. Absolutely grateful for the vaccine and the fact we won’t need to leave our homes I still do think about the cyclical nature of the history, the fact that as humans we remain vulnerable even today. Which makes me wonder: What is going to stay…
Painting process sometimes, or always, gets as interesting as the final work of art itself. It is, after all, a path leading to the final execution of an artistic idea. Dynamics of the painting process mirrors not only the artists specific determinants, but the topography of the place, time, culture, as well. In a way even the time gets crucial role in the painting process. It’s been talked a lot about the right time to finish an art work . Yet for me the flow of the events has been as important as possible, too. And in a strange way, all these factors have to work in a synergy to make the magic happen. This is the simplest description of my painting process I can give.
Painting my last carnations still life paintings has been such a process. Making it easy to explain now, but almost impossible to trigger in advance, which makes it enigmatic, I guess.
This time it has begun with an unplanned Saturday afternoon jump to the local shop, just to grab some bread. At the cashier there have been those bouquets, some faded away tulips losing their petals and just one carnations bouquet left. That went home with me. Won’t talk about determinism here, it seems closer for me to say things happen when we are prepared for them.
At home I’ve chosen the right vase for the flowers and in the afternoon light the pink carnations almost got a glow. It is this critical strong magenta color that I can not capture on the photo. Perhaps some filters would help, have to find it out.
With the flowers on the table I’ve just needed to make a glimpse over the room to fall into that gorgeous magenta color of the bouquet. Could speak hours about the connotations of carnation flowers and my personal love for them. Like from one side, it is worth mentioning carnations are Slovenian national flower. Grown mostly in Gorenjska region of Slovenia, decorating small windows of old peasant homes, nowadays they are becoming a picturesque tourist attraction. Logically then, the stylized carnation form is an evergreen element of decorative arts in my home land . Writing this I’ve just remembered the old carnations pattern on the museum walls of sculptor Ahčin birth home that I’ve used in the portrait of the late artist. Have a look at this portrait here, as I’ve used the Slovenian carnation as a symbol for artist’s connection to his green homeland. Talking about carnation theme brings back also the memories of my first school day, as I entered the universe of education rocking a blouse with embroidered carnations on it, just to hate the schooling system the very next day. The handmade blouse embroidered with rows of red and blue carnations has been carefully kept by my mother, just to be handed down to my kids.
As I’ve transferred the bouquet to my studio in a minute, I’ve started to paint it. This is a reflex of mine, as catching light and colors has to be done asap. Not to mention flowers do die.
Colored pencils sketch has been done first, it is interesting as looking back one can see which elements have remained and what has been deleted in the painting process.
For the painting part, I’ve worked on it next days, as the basic idea has been captured and the time for the pure painting has come.
So far two still life paintings are presented here. The first one is Pink carnations bouquet with lemons. It is difficult to work with magenta, as it has been also difficult to catch the glowing characteristic of the flowers in the vase. Again the photography is not absolutely true to the colors feeling one gets observing this painting on the wall. I am happy with the strong colorful impact of early spring colors on this canvas, accentuated with tiny hieroglyphic sort of lines made with palette knife.
The smaller canvas with yellow background plays with the colors of carnations even more. I love to see how the yellows of the lemons from the previous painting have become background color here. Letting accurate forms of vase and surroundings behind this canvas has become a small example of my very own japonisme painting. Which has not been intended on rational level, but is close to my heart indeed.
Painting this portrait has been a sort of a challenge, as I’ve worked mostly using photo documentation. The Covid quarantine prevented me to paint the sitter in my studio. Yet it has been at least a bit easier as I do know the sitter pretty well.
This time I’ve decided to go with a classical approach, obviously made my way, but still with great similarity of the sitter, taking in consideration the question about the narrow line between achieving big similarity vs finding the most striking painting language. Talking about resemblance meaning not just painting correctly in matter of physical proportions yet even more achieving resemblance in psychological sense. Of course they have to coexist both, the resemblance and the authenticity of the painting language. But then sometimes the painting process would further into the direction away from keeping similarities with the chosen sitter. As for my part, I am always on the side of pure painting investigation and wouldn’t mind sailing in the field of language of the colors, textures, lines and patterns for the sake of resemblance. Yet it is even better as long as I can track both objectives equally, like here in this portrait.
Portrait of a Girl, Tamara Jare, oil on canvas, 2021
Small format Still life with a plant and a porcelain figurine that I’ve made recently is particularly dear to me.
It might quite well be a sort of a prejudice, but thinking about the next painting on a bigger canvas for me things are clear in advance. I usually do make some sketches, I know what I am going to paint, I have certain level of respect towards a bigger canvas, so to say.
And then on other hand, process of painting a small canvas is usually quite the opposite one. Like sometimes just in the middle of the work in my studio I might notice an interesting colorful detail, a small scene, a little accent. In a hurry, just to not let it go with the fading light of the day, I would take a small format canvas to capture the scene immediately. Like this one, working on the other still life (see the previous post to notice the same table cloth ) I noticed the beauty of a small plant on my window. I was attracted by the purples and reds of the plant in a small terracotta container. I’ve put the porcelain figurine near the plant, and it was there, just all the colors I wanted to have. The additional task has been to catch the velvet like texture of the leaves contrasting all the strong accents. So this small format has turned to a small caption of a moment from the studio and a sort of a visual diary. Just as I like it!
Early Spring Still Life is a small format oil on canvas painting. Basically I am working on some bigger projects right now and my studio is full of paintings in progress. Which I absolutely love, although one project specifically is giving me some troubles! Yet the early spring sun of February is already bright and the hyacinth is popping out on the window. With all the oil colors already on my palette I just had to set a quick composition to paint it immediately, just because all those colors were stunning. Look at the pink baby roses, they by a miracle survived this winter and are flowering in the garden even now! And then the purple hyacinth bulb with emerging green stems! Painting this small canvas really felt like playing with the composition, colors and emerging into the ocean of bright morning sunlight, almost giving me energy as I’ve proceeded. It’s been almost a year since we all have felt a sort of entrapment due to pandemics. I believe this could be the reason this spring is bringing so much promises. And just this are the feelings I’ve wanted to capture here…..
The mystery of things? I have no idea what mystery is! The only mystery is there being someone who thinks about mystery. When you’re in the sun and shut your eyes, You start not knowing what the sun is And you think a lot of things full of heat. But you open your eyes and look at the sun And you can’t think about anything anymore, Because the sun’s light is worth more than the thoughts Of all philosophers and all poets. The light of the sun doesn’t know what it’s doing So it’s never wrong and it’s common and good.
Fernando Pessoa
Early Spring Still Life, Tamara Jare, oil on canvas, 2021
Tamara Jare original watercolor paintings on paper
I’ve painted 45 imaginary Venetian gardens, an artist’s book with abstract landscapes, a sort of archetype memory maps of the Venetian gardens. Venice has some beautiful gardens, but it is quite difficult to visit them. I’ve always dreamed about seeing them all, but have actually seen just two of them, the dodge garden and the garden at the palazzo Leoni , namely Peggy Guggenheim museum. Yet I have a memory of a ride with vaporetto, passing some high brick walls with exotic trees behind them and imagining the gardens that might be there….
I’ve painted a book to bring the viewer to those fictive gardens of mine, to stroll among the colors and patterns I’ve built in my imagination. I wanted to make each page a new and different experience and it was quite hard to work on keeping that tension from the page to the page. So far I am happy with the book, turning it’s pages really feels like walking down the gardens in Venetian lagoon, entering the own inner world and trying to break the code of the meditative language of colors, patterns, lines, rhythm ..
Small still life, Tamara Jare, oil on canvas, 2020
Small still life from times of isolation. I love painting fresh flowers from the garden. Those here are some twigs of pink baby rose in a vintage ceramic vase. Vase has that old green color of glaze that reflects the colors so beautifully. And the shade of pink roses is, similarly, the one almost pale, easily bending into color scale of its surrounding. Yet this time the reflection was more of an internal sort of, I painted the reflections and shades in flowers in colors of my optimism, at the time hoping the quarantine was ending soon. Although, sadly enough, we are still in pandemics, this small still lifereminds me of the fact, that better times are coming, inevitably. And there is no need for a big canvas to express this hope, this small format will do it, for it comes from the bottom of my heart……
As mentioned before, I had a wonderful privilege of not only having the most noble hearted, intelligent and warm person possible as my mother, but also having a possibility to grow up in an art studio, learning from one of the best artists of her generation, my mother. It was childhood filled with art. My first books were art monographs. Since the early age I was encouraged to explore the world of literature, painting, sculpture, music. I still remember artists, intellectuals visiting our home, having debates about art. Already as a young girl I saw almost all art exhibition openings in the town. And am grateful for that. But there is also something else I’ve seen. I’ve seen too many quasy friends of my mother taking her artworks home but forgetting to pay. Or wearing Gucci’s and claiming they need the already friendly price of the painting to be lowered. Or “borrowing “art just for an occasion and forgetting to bring it back. Or taking it for granted to get a portrait even before starting to write an article, art criticism or arrange an exhibit. But even so couldn’t imagine which happened today! Acclaimed art critic came today, almost ten years after my late mother’s death, to our home, to tell us he would like to have my mums artwork as supposedly she once said she might consider giving him a painting for an article, which of course has never been written. COMPLETELY IN SCHOCK all I can say now is, in name of my late mother, in my personal name, IN NAME OF ALL THE ARTISTS : TO MAKE AN ARTWORK ONE NEEDS TALENT, TIME, HARD WORK, PERSEVERATION, DETERMINATION, VISION, CREATIVITY, NOT TO MENTION ART STUDIO AND ART MATETIALS HAVE TO BE PAID. THEREFORE ONLY PRIMITIVE IGNORANTS CAN ASSUME IT IS NORMAL OR SELF UNDERSTANDABLE TO GET ARTWORKS FOR NOTHING!!! THANK YOU FOR UNDERSTANDING THIS SIMPLE FACT!!!!
Artwork price: Slovenian painter Irina Rahovsky Kralj with her older daughter Tamara in her art studio, around 1964, photo courtesy: Alojz Kralj
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