Time Well Spent

When I have an uninterrupted hour,deciding how to use it is easy. My preferred activity is painting . It is my passion, my meditation ,my means of navigating this world. Here is evidence of one hour last night, well spent.

Teri and Zoe

Everyone has a story . As I continue to explore my two painted series,  "On Top of My Head" and "Child's Play" ,I am looking to individuals who have powerful personal tales of pain and persistence from their childhood as subject matter. I want to know how these experiences shaped their life, impacted their relationships and influenced who they are at this moment . Although I am not at liberty to fully divulge their stories, the women whom I select to paint have emerged from horrors that are difficult to fathom and yet they have emerged with hope ,passion and formidable strength.

The following are recent works all in process. Teri and her grand daughter Zoe inspire me on many levels .It is a story of a young girl's struggle to maintain her spirit, sanity and safety in the face of unspeakable abuses . It is the tale of her efforts to protect her children and grandchild from the same...a true love story.

“We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us something is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit.”
― E.E. Cummings

On Top Of My Head

10 years ago, while a passenger driving to Florida on vacation, I began a children's book for Christina and Robert entitled: On Top of My Head. I have revised ,edited and abandoned it multiple times. I had no idea that nearly a decade later, the title would take on new meaning...and would inspire a series of paintings. I didn't even paint at that time or believe I ever would. So now I am revisiting the book and paintings to illustrate it...for Christina and Robert...On Top of My Head .

You're Invited to Visit My New Website

Graduate school has created new connections, work and possibilities for major changes in my life.My return to Savannah is just months away. I am working on a  website that features my newest work created specifically for graduate projects. I invite you to view my art and share your thoughts.

With much gratitude,
Jude:)

http://www.judeharzer.com/

Moment of Truth  Jude Harzer Fine Art 2012 oil on aluminum plate

.

Progress: On Top of My Head

Maintaining balance in life is key. Physical, psychological and emotional balance...moderation in most things,  is desirable. But of course this is also unrealistic and idealistic. At any given moment, added pressure and weight , the unforeseen and unexpected, threatens  to topple our steadiness and stability. So we readjust our stance. We shift and redistribute the weight and sometimes we change, trying once more to  keep centered and hold on. I believe the solution sometimes is to simplify, release and lessen the load. It takes strength to admit weakness and weary.

Here's my recent progress: On Top of My Head.

 

Change: On Top Of My Head

Life itself  is change. It is inevitable. We struggle to preserve and protect what is and what was. Our minds grow attached to the comfortable and familiar, the safe and the sound. I only know that for me, decades of holding on have left me in a place of fear, anxiety and discontent. I lay awake rationalizing my life and my choices, all of which have led to a lovely state of being....quiet, secure but very alone. "Get a life right?" "Quit the complaining!" "Have a grateful heart and stop the self centered babble!" I mentally scolded myself for years with these reprimands. But the gnawing desire to leave, to do more and be more, to find like minds in work and in my heart persists and paralyzes. So change is due. It is now. It is terrifying because those I love most, now know what plagues my heart and mind and they are waiting. My change will be theirs as well.

On Top of My Head is a series of paintings that I will continue to develop, inspired by my Child's Play work. Within them I explore the idea of self imposed mental clutter that creates an emotional and psychological weight .These burdens, both real and imagined, threaten to crush the spirit. I am not here to lecture or solve or reflect on how to make change. I do that with myself in every waking moment it seems. I just know that leaving means changing and changing requires unloading the heaviness. I can't run and fly with all of this extra weight. And now to decide...where the heck am I going...I believe post grad school, will take me to where my art and the art of others surrounds me daily, where my heart is understood.This requires   painting and more painting to get me where I want to be! (Oh and welding, I need to know how to weld !) x

On Top of My Head....some new images in process:

All images are copyrighted by Jude Harzer Fine Art and CRO Designs 2012

Child's Play

Simplicity is necessary this year in order to focus on refining ideas and producing a finished body of work that I intend to exhibit. Child's Play, On Top of My Head and other series of paintings are becoming inextricably connected as a cohesive unit of thought and art. Graduate school has helped me to consider more thoughtfully what the heck I'm trying to do here and why:) I am confident in the value of my work. I have a lot more to say. So this year I will make it matter and share it.
During my short hiatus from school, I struggled with a few new images.I continue to paint my way to my dreams and remind myself daily that the joy, the inspiration, the promise and hope, are in the process. I am awake so as not to miss it.
Here are a few recent explorations...all related to the Child's Play concept.

Child's Play: Awake Jude Harzer Fine Art 2012

detail Child's Play: Awake Jude Harzer Fine Art 2012

Child's Play: Wisdom Jude Harzer Fine Art 2012

Child's Play: In My Arms Jude Harzer Fine Art 2012