Studio News, Latest Works & Musings On A Coastal Life

The focus of my work is to create paintings that are stress-reducing, rejuvenating and uplifting, and I’m currently working on a series of “waterscape” paintings inspired by my love of the sea and coastal areas. I’ve personally always found the ocean or any large body of water to be very calming and balancing.
                                                       

 

I especially enjoy long walks on a beach when the tide is low and there’s a wide expanse of sand, either in the early morning or early evening hours when there are only a few people around. “Solitude” seems like the perfect name for this ocean painting, which provides a visual escape to a peaceful meditative place – an experience that begins with the eyes and expands to the heart and soul.

Find out more about "Solitude" here.

 

 

"Off-Shore Calm"   12" x 16"  Acrylic on Canvas
© Copyright 2010 Barbara Blair

                                                                                                           
Imagine drifting in a boat on a balmy summer day, not far from the shore. Feel the gentle motion of the water rocking you as you lie in the warm sun. There’s no sound except for the peaceful lapping of the water on the side of the boat. All is calm. Life is good.

My coastal and water paintings are intended to provide you with momentary “joyful escapes and peaceful retreats” for you to experience in your home or office.

Find out more about "Off-Shore Calm" here.

See more pictures in the waterscape series.

"Coastal Meadow" 

For several years hospitals and medical facilities have included art in their buildings to help patients in their treatment and healing process, to calm fears, speed recovery, as well as reduce stress for staff and visiting family members.

Several studies have been done on the benefits of art in the healthcare field.  Positive healing art images affect the autonomic nervous system, hormonal balance, brain neurotransmitters, the immune system and the blood flow to all organs in the body.  The most healing images are of expansive nature scenes, calm water, trees and flowers.

Healing artwork also has a valuable place in the home and office.  We are living in a very stressful world.  Many people are experiencing anxiety, sleep disorders, high blood pressure, depression and many other ailments as a result of stress, as it takes a heavy toll on the body and immune system. 

Your home can be a powerful tool to create health, happiness and well-being, if it is filled with positive impressions and images.  You could think of art and everything else that you place in your environment as food that you ingest through your senses, and that affects you on a cellular level.  Your body functions at maximum wellness surrounded with sympathetic compatible frequencies that create harmony.  It is therefore important to make choices that resonate with you in a positive way.

By placing images in your home and office that allow you to experience a moment of quiet reflection, or a sense of joy or upliftment at any time of the day, it will help you to combat stress and stay more balanced.  Think about what images and colors feel good, make you happy and inspire you.  For many people this involves pictures of nature, as the studies indicate.

What is hanging on your walls?  If you have dreary old pictures that you inherited from your grandmother as “family heirlooms” and feel obligated to hang them on your walls but have never liked them, give yourself permission to take them down. 

The painter Henri Matisse said that art should be “something like a good armchair in which to rest from physical fatique.”  Surround yourself with what you love (this applies to everything in your home, not just the artwork) and get rid of what you don’t love. 

Then notice how your home or office has transformed into a joyful life-affirming space.

Image shown above:

"Coastal Meadow"  12" x 16"  Acrylic on Canvas

© Copyright 2010 Barbara Blair

Click on the link for more information about this painting.

See more pictures of waterscape paintings.

Last month I finally left the beautiful and peaceful Monterey Peninsular area on California’s central coast after living there for the past nine years, and moved back to north county San Diego. 

This was a very difficult decision for me to make because I left the busy metropolitan San Diego area where I had lived for twenty years, for a quieter, more low-key life in the Monterey region.

This mixed media painting, "Rocky Cove" was inspired by the rocky coastline of the central coast, especially the Asilomar State Beach in Pacific Grove, which has numerous small coves.  It has pieces of sea shell, beach sand and stones in it.

Despite the beauty, serenity and nurturing quality of the land and sea of the Monterey Bay area and spectacular nearby Big Sur coast, I never got used to the much cooler temperatures which year round are at least ten degrees cooler than the San Diego coast. The inland areas can get very hot, as they do in the San Diego region, but for me, being such a lover of the ocean, I always want to live close enough for almost daily beach walks, as well as be able to spend some time relaxing on the warm sands and soaking up the sun. It’s so much cooler on the central coast that sitting on the beach isn’t a very enjoyable option, unless you’re happy wrapped up in multiple layers of clothing or a blanket.

The chilly fog banks roll in very regularly in the spring and summer months, dropping the temperatures into the fifties or low sixties, so I always felt cheated out of summer. The autumn months are the best time to visit if you like blue skies and sunshine, but be sure to take jackets and sweaters.

So here I am, once again reveling in the warmer temperatures and sunny skies of San Diego, although everyone here on the coast is complaining about the cooler summer temperatures this year.

I’m also loving the wonderful support of artists throughout the communities of the San Diego region, with the many artists’ associations, several of which have galleries where the members can show their work, as well as numerous art fairs, events and opportunities for exhibits. As I’m drawn to paint sunny beach and ocean scenes, palm trees and tropical foliage, this is a much better location for me than the central coast to do so.

There are other personal reasons for moving back to San Diego, such as having several family members here to be closer to. I am also enjoying reuniting with old friends. No matter how long you’ve been apart, it seems like only yesterday when you saw them last!