hollyfriesen's posterous

Working painter learning to live with the unresolved questions in my heart while painting from the inside-out. Beauty is my compass, Fire is my heartbeat, the earth is my body. Seeking to manifest love, truth & compassion in it's multiple forms, textures & colors. You can see more of my work at www.hollyfriesen.com or www.theroaringinside.blogspot.com

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November 30, 2009

Sounds of Release

Painting by @holly59 / Poetry by @lilyofoz

you cannot give
what you never had
your soul caves in
your mind scrambles
for a shovel

release the sounds
send them on their merry way
back to the sorrow filled houses
where music lay still
as a graveside after the weeping

send them back to the carnivals
the smoky bars
the houses of shouting
the wanting
the wanting
the gaping mouths of need

beads of sweat
on my forehead
roll down my nose
drip onto my chest
i absorb them back
into my body

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November 27, 2009

Stillness Within Movement

Often I work on two paintings side by side. Today was Movement beside Stillness.I alternated between the two.

Click here to download:

Stillness_Within_Movement.zip (4342 KB)

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November 27, 2009

Fair Trade

This is Miguel. He is a painter down the hall from me in my studio building. He is also a hair dresser.

I don't always have the money for the luxury of a professional hair cut but I do have paintings, many

paintings! :) Miguel fell in love w/ these two small paintings at my Open Studio and so we traded paintings for haircuts.

This sort of trade always makes me so happy inside! Miguel loves the paintings and feels good about

the exchange as well. We both made each other feel good about what we do which somehow far

outweighs an exchange of money.

Click here to download:

Fair_Trade.zip (4246 KB)

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November 21, 2009

Today's Figure Workshop

Intense, fast moving, lots of deep looking resulted in these sketches which are raw and from the gut.It was a day of exploration & emptying out, amazing how time disappears when one is so focused on drawing.

Click here to download:

Todays_Figure_Workshop.zip (10352 KB)

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November 18, 2009

Wilderness Song

Almost finished. Just letting it simmer for a while in the studio.

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November 17, 2009

Wild Studio Energy Today

Today was like a psychedelic trip into color! My brushes started to move in a new way, partly influenced by @katost and her use of dancing lines, and partly by an impressive exhibition I recently saw by landscape painter, David Alexander . The colors and brushes just started to sing on their own, it felt like learning a new form of calligraphy but one that I already knew how to read and write intuitively. As long as I didn't stop to analyze or think but just kept moving and dancing, this flow of "writing colors" kept flowing! It was all I could do to contain myself and relax into this new freedom of mark making that I was experiencing. It was like trying to remember a dream, the more one relaxes and doesn't "think" about it, the more the dream is revealed. It felt so simple and familiar yet it is something I could never have done consciously or even have attempted before today. The painting process never ceases to amaze me!

http://hollyfriesen.com

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November 12, 2009

Rivers, Rocks and Forest Pools

I am back with my beloved rocks again. I take these wild detours away from them and then all of sudden, there they are again!

I am so in love with painting rocks! My paint brushes are smoldering from all their use today! Had the music cranked and literally

danced my whole body into these paintings. They are side by side and both relatively large canvases so they are a joy to bounce

back and forth from. Painting rocks is like building something with my hands. I once built rock walls for my gardens and it is a similar

feeling, a feeling of constructing something, almost like sculpture. I collaged Washi paper (handmade japanese paper) here and there to add to

the overall texture. I love to watch how the painting takes on a life of it's own and starts telling me what to do!
At first I am unsure, full of doubt and just splash some paint on loosely to block in the composition but then all of a sudden the piece

starts to speak and I start to dance! I just LOVE to paint when this happens!

Click here to download:

Rivers_Rocks_and_Forest_Pools.zip (4203 KB)

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November 12, 2009

The Road Home

Today was one of those incredible days in the studio...I have 4 paintings on the go and every stroke of paint seemed to lead to another idea!

This is a small study 8" x !0" I did of where I used to live in Mont-Tremblant. I began with a pencil sketch and moved quickly to the board to sketch it in

water soluble graphite, which I love to use in combination with the acrylic paint. It is an emotionally charged piece since this was where I turned

off the road to go home for the last 20 years. My life has changed dramatically in the last year and so this was both a tribute to and a celebration of

all the past years that have led me home to where I am right now! There is sadness and joy intermingled with the paint. I feel good about the results,

I recognize a place within that is reflected in this small intimate landscape.