My Color Field Translations

Springtimes Have Needed You, Oil on Canvas, 18 x 18 in Atmospheric & Abstract Landscape Paintings by Sharon Kingston Inspired by the Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke

Mark Rothko’s minimalist color field paintings and his method of trapping luminosity through layered thin transparent glazes continues to influence my painting practice.  I consider Rothko and Rilke my main muses.  Their works inspire me in finding meaning and method in my paintings– both having been present in my world of art since the beginning.  Although most certainly suggesting landscape, the simplicity of these three paintings reference Rothko’s  compositions.  This reduction of the plane into three sections allows me to focus on edge, textural nuances, depth and atmosphere and of course, color.  The most recent of what I call my color field translations, Springtimes Have Needed You, began with Quinacridone Gold Brown and has evolved with 4 layers of yellows and earth tones.  Interestingly, all three of these paintings resonate with the seasons in which they were painted.  When the Knowing Comes evolved out of the last burst of color in the Fall, Mist during those long, cold, grey and misty Winter days and now Springtimes Have Needed You while I wait desperately for the warmth of the sun to return and ease the numbness from my fingers while I try to paint. 

Mist, Oil on Gessobord, 12 x 12 in Abstract Landscape by Sharon Kingston

April 20th, A Year with Rilke by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows

Springtimes have needed you. And there are stars expecting you to notice them. From out of the past, a wave rises to meet you the way the strains of a violin come through an open window just as you walk by. As if it were all by design. But are you the one designing it?

When the Knowing Comes, Oil on Canvas, 30 x 30 in Abstract Landscape Painting by Sharon Kingston Inspired by the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke

From the First Duino Elegy Rainer Maria Rilke

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