“Shimmering Wisteria” 36″ x 48″ oil and metal leaf on canvas – $4,700
“Shimmering Summer” 36″ x 48″ oil and metal leaf on canvas – $5,000
I have always been aware that my paintings have seen me through difficult and sad times, but never more than during the isolation of the pandemic. When the timing of new opportunities for my work arrived almost simultaneously with the shrinking of my physical world, I was given new hope for the future.
I was contacted by the publisher of Pomegranate Communications to ask for four images for a boxed set of notecards in response to an earlier submission my paintings. This was just two months before the pandemic was announced and since then Pomegranate has also printed a puzzle, several individual notecards and calendars for 2022, 2023 and 2024, which has just been released. The 2025 calendar has already been designed and approved.
Working with the publisher and talented designers of the company has been a joy because of their enthusiasm, and it has also given me new goals and challenges on several aspects of my work. On the creative side of my painting, I’m constantly thinking of new subjects, seasons and color combinations.
Photography of my work has now become uppermost in my mind as I compose my paintings so that I don’t create a difficulty for my daughters who do the photography. I believe that all of these considerations have also made my paintings stronger, more colorful, glowing and increased my joy in creating them.
My daughters, in turn, have become more proficient and creative in their approach to the photography of the paintings. They added new lights and the use of reflector sheets to enhance the shimmer of the gold and silver metal leaf backgrounds. This painting technique has always been very difficult to photograph because of the reflective quality of the metal leaf. We have learned that an overcast day helps the photographic process because the sun coming through the studio skylights causes hot spots on the paintings.
“Shimmering Wisteria” was selected for the cover of the 2024 calendar and “Shimmering Summer” is included in it as well as being printed on a new notecard.
Please click link to see all of my Pomegranate products. http:www.pomegranate.com/joan-metcalf.htm
