USD 400.00
Carolyn, her husband John, and two daughters began their Belize Adventure in 1973. They purchased Banana Bank Ranch near Belmopan.
For 10’s of thousands of tourists, travelers, investors, divers, fishermen, snorkelers, and artists, all are overpowered by the calm beauty and mysterious violence of the Caribbean ocean. That sums up the artist’s vision as she spent almost a year planning and plotting the mixing of colors and brushes in order for Chaotic Calm to become a reality.
There really are four parts to this effort-(1) an exceedingly violent set of waves breaking toward a small island where there are some barely visible small structures. (2) The huge waves somehow melt into a quiet and very welcoming sandy beach. (3) The calm of the underwater separates chaos and becomes a great habitat for angel fish, coral, and a myriad of underwater ocean life. (4) And then, a sunset sky, that somehow promises another coming day and we will realize chaotic calm all over again.
Process And Painting of Chaotic Clam
In order to achieve this piece of art Carolyn squeezed out raw color from 20 different tubes of paint onto her pallet arranging it in a color wheel fashion in order-red, yellow, blue, etc. The mixing of these 20 colors together coordinated to achieve Chaotic Calm. At the end of the day, there may be more than 500 mixes and hues to achieve Chaotic Calm.
This artist and other successful artists hardly ever know what exactly is going to happen. She cannot plan exactly how she will use 30 different brushes and 500 varying colors to successfully achieve “Chaotic Calm”.
Have you ever thought of the fact that “It is impossible to successfully photograph this composition: underwater, distance, sky, waves and have ocean surface and underwater seen at the same time. Waves, sky, coral — your eyes then mix it all together and your vision begins to circle and go back and forth. Then you ask yourself “What is my favorite part of the painting?”
Description
How can one illustrate dichotomy? I plucked this fancy word out of my repertoire of words I know but never use because it is the exact word to describe what I am trying to do. I am dividing two mutually contradictory entities and then blending them into one unit That is a chaotic sentence I realize. Such is the nature of these ideas that are bothersome and hard to visually express.
Nature is full of dichotomies. Take a bird for instance, so free yet so fragile, or the sun upon which we depend for our very survival yet could be so destructive. The ocean is the best example I can think of and the subject of this painting. On the surface, it has a violent nature when battered by the wind. Waves rise up in anger causing destruction, yet under the surface, life goes on in calm defiance of the chaos above.
I wanted to blend an indifferent sky, an angry ocean surface and the tranquil ocean floor into one unit, without an obvious indication of separation. Intimate details of coral contrast with the pandemonium on the surface and the distant smear of sky colors. Our eyes don’t see things that way but that’s the joy of being an artist.
Life can be rough. The storms batter and rip at the surface. Despair, fear and pride, anger, hate and jealousy totally ruin the smooth image I would like to portray. In Acts 27, the apostle Paul was on a ship on his way to Rome, and the ship got caught in a terrible storm. But God gave him instructions as to how to get through the storm.
If I will listen to the Holy Spirit, He will speak to me about every storm that is in front of me. He will direct me and tell us what to do so that I can get through that time in my life, whatever it is that I am facing. Paul knew they were sailing into difficult waters. Then verses 14 and 15 say, “But not long after, there arose against it a tempestuous wind, and when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive.” They ended up in the middle of a storm. They couldn’t control the movement of the ship and the situation kept getting worse. Verse 20 says, “And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.”
This was a hopeless moment. It looked like everything was finished. But then, Paul stepped forward and said: “And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship” (Acts 27:22). How did he know? “For there stood by me this night the angel of God…. Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me” (Acts 27:23-25).
This is the dichotomy, calm in the midst of chaos. My Father God and His Son Jesus are my ocean floor. Let the surface roar. Let the tempest rage but I will strive to stay in the depths of God’s will and purpose for my life.
Additional information
| Dimensions | 26.5 × 20 in |
|---|---|
| Medium | Giclee on canvas |
