Fleta Monaghan - New Work

Landscapes in Oil and Cold Wax

2010-11-11T11:37:00.001-08:00

Started on location across the street from the studio, this painting is a traditional oil painted with a palette knife. I have been learning to use this tool, studying with Bob Martin at RES.

This year I have been really into landscape, working rather small (20" x 20" or smaller usually) The two above are derived from the scenes in the mountains this past summer. Some of the plants really thrived in the hot temperatures, giving us a different look at the landscape. Things got a bit over grown, as it was just too hot to mow some days.

Nightscape, one of a four part series showing the rising and setting moon. These are at The Art House in Atlanta. http://thearthouseatlanta.com/

" Havana Evening"

I will post some pics of my new encaustics soon. I have studied with the master of this medium, Mary Farmer, at RES and am really enjoying all this waxy stuff.......cold, hot and oil pastels too. Please come by the studio and see what is happening, and check out the class schedule too!

Old Heat I

2010-02-15T12:28:00.001-08:00

I started a new series called "Time Travel" and this is the first completed piece. Oil on canvas, about 36" x 30". There are others in the works, both oils and some oil pastels on paper. This one is on exhibit at Woolworth Walk Gallery in Asheville, NC, centrally located in the heart of the historic downtown area in the former Woolworth building. I hope you can go by and see the work there, and be sure to visit my gallery too - 310 ART in the River Arts District.

Asian Medallion

2009-08-02T15:37:00.001-07:00

See abstract work at The Revoling Arts Gallery in Hendersonville, NC,

at 310 ART Gallery in Asheville and starting August 15 at the swanky Tupelo Honey in downtown Asheville. My pleine aire landscape work can be seen at Woolworth Walk Gallery in Downtown Asheville, NC.

Be sure you come see the art, and meet me at 310 ART in the historic river arts district of Asheville!!

Roar

2009-08-02T07:53:00.000-07:00

Sold

Laguna Verde

2009-07-23T04:50:00.001-07:00

After the Solstice

2009-01-02T18:18:00.001-08:00

Violet Landscape - part I

Violet Landscape - part II

In this century we are faced with many uncertainties, from immediate cultural concerns to long term issues of climate change that will impact the earth and its inhabitants in countless unknown ways.

Ostara, Oil on Canvas Sold

Getting attuned to the natural earth cycles we know and can predict can give us a sense of wonder and joy as we move through our daily experiences. Contemplation of what we see in our daily experiences, tiny unseen microscopic activity and the vast universal movements of celestial bodies we can only imagine has led to the abstract paintings you see here.

Hidden Moon, Oil on Canvas

Since these ideas are abstract, it seems natural to not be too literal in the visual expression. The visible landscape is always a reference point, giving me a starting place. Color adds expression to emotion and spiritual experience. I have been drawn to the circular shape for many years, and I wonder if this might refer to the natural cycles of the earth, and of birth, death and then rebirth. These thoughts and observances have been at the core of my thinking as this series of paintings evolves.

Big Bang, Oil on Canvas

Perhaps you will have some interpretations of your own, and I invite you to share your ideas!

Asian Dream, Oil on Canvas

Sold

The Winter Solstice, which really lasts only an instant each year, is the time of year that people the world over celebrate in religions as ancient as Neolithic practices to Holy Days today. Following the Winter Solstice in our hemisphere it is a time of looking forward to the rebirth of the earth - for longer, warmer days and the colorful sights and savory smells of spring as crops are planted and grow. It is the time of the year for looking ahead with optimism and ingenuity. These paintings are dedicated to the wonder of all the things we can see, the things we can only imagine and to the peace that comes as we savor each moment of our experience.

Between the Two Evenings, Oil on Canvas

See current Abstract Paintings at 310 ART gallery, 191 Lyman Street, #310, Asheville, NC 828-776-2716

Red Omen

2008-12-21T07:31:00.001-08:00

Sold

This Oil Pastel on Lokta paper is going to reside in Merida, Mexico!

Mountain Stream

2008-08-03T08:36:00.001-07:00

Sold

Last spring I had an injury that prevented me from painting for three months. To get back to painting, I decided to practice with some small landscape oil paintings that would require some careful observation of nature, and also be easy for me to move around. All my abstract work is based on landscape and I love the mountain terrain, probably the feature of WNC that draws so many artists here to live and work. The rocks in this particular area are almost completely covered with a dense carpet of moss that thrives in this cool, moist, shaded spot. It is almost surreal in appearance!

This is a painting of one of the many small streams in the mountains, this one in the Botanical Gardens near the site of the "Battle of Asheville", right in the city! To read about the rag-tag (but victorious) confederate stand against Union troops go to: http://thomaslegion.net/battleofasheville.html.

Afternoon Repose

2008-08-03T08:30:00.001-07:00

Sold

This is a small landscape of my side yard. In the spring and summer the our mountain looks like an enchanted forest, and I love the wild look just before the grass is mowed! The "thinking log" is a great place to sit and watch as the sun begins to set and the fire flies wake up. The sunlight through the thick forest is dramatic in the afternoon.

Twilight

2008-08-03T08:26:00.001-07:00

See this work at 310 ART
Just outside my bedroom window is an old tree stump. A few years ago I planted ornamental bamboo inside the stump, and it loves this home. The four o'clocks (so named because the blossoms close in the daylight, and begin to open a day's end) are volunteer plants that spring up everywhere. The wheel barrow is my holiday gift received a few years ago. Yes, I always wanted one! I stopped this painting, before I began to paint every blade of grass!

Bomb Island

2008-08-03T08:21:00.001-07:00

Bomb Island, on Lake Murray in South Carolina is so named as it was used for target practice by pilots during WWII. Today it is the seasonal home for the Purple Martins, who roost at night in the tree tops. It is quite a sight to see the birds return to the island in the evening, in large (huge) flocks of swirling activity.

Kandinsky said

2008-04-15T14:48:00.000-07:00

"Of all the arts, abstract painting is the most difficult. It demands that you know how to draw well, that you have a heightened sensitivity for composition and for colors, and that you be a true poet. This last is essential."

Red Tide

2008-04-04T07:49:00.001-07:00

Oil on Canvas, 32" x 32" 2008

Morning light in the Studio, Spring is here!

2008-03-21T06:26:00.000-07:00

Thought

2008-03-17T15:10:00.000-07:00

The painter is lost who has found himself.
Max Ernst

Water Dance

2008-03-13T05:37:00.000-07:00

Oil Pastels

2008-03-06T06:14:00.001-08:00

The above is the oil pastel study for the Fireweed painting below. This is a great and versatile medium. I will be teaching an Oil Pastel Intensive Workshop this summer, where participants can experiment and learn about this wonderful medium. Would you like to know the history of oil pastels? There is a brief overview at this site: http://www.oilpastelsociety.com/history.htm.

Email me if you would like to received information about the coming workshop!

Winter Ends

2008-02-29T10:47:00.001-08:00

Fireweed

2007-11-29T16:34:00.001-08:00

I've been making small oil pastel sketches to use as compositional studies. A few of these small drawings offer a seed of an idea that can then be a starting place for a larger oil painting. This painting, measuring 32" x 32" started with a 4" x 4" sketch/study. It makes for a productive process to draw with color, not with the intention of creating a "finished" work, but as part of a process of trial, error, exploration and discovery.

The title of this painting was suggested to me recently by a visitor to the studio, who remembered a plant called "fireweed" . Imagine my surprise when I looked up fireweed - see the photo to the right. This plant flourishes after fire, covering the scorched earth in the far north with a beautiful and vital blanket of pink spikey blossoms. It is the hope part of the Ghost Town concept, a floral phoenix. Do artists see images with meaning in their imagination before they know what those images might be?

Do you see anything else? Other images emerged unconsciously in the process of layering the creamy oil paint, and were pointed out to me.

Periwinkle Storm

2007-11-29T16:25:00.000-08:00

Working in oil paint allows a more lyrical, gestural look. This is the first of the oil paintings where the Ghost Town landscape and imagery becomes more obscured and layered. I am trying to create the luminous look the impressionists created in many landscapes as this series moves toward my old friend, abstraction.

Memento Mori

2007-08-08T17:13:00.001-07:00

The Ghost Of The Past
Thomas Hardy
We two kept house, the Past and I,
The Past and I;
I tended while it hovered nigh,
Leaving me never alone.
It was a spectral housekeeping
Where fell no jarring tone,
As strange, as still a housekeeping
As ever has been known.
As daily I went up the stair,
And down the stair,
I did not mind the Bygone there—
The Present once to me;
Its moving meek companionship
I wished might ever be,
There was in that companionship
Something of ecstasy.
It dwelt with me just as it was,
Just as it was
When first its prospects gave me pause
In wayward wanderings,
Before the years had torn old troths
As they tear all sweet things,
Before gaunt griefs had torn old troths
And dulled old rapturings.
And then its form began to fade,
Began to fade,
Its gentle echoes faintlier played
At eves upon my ear
Than when the autumn’s look embrowned
The lonely chambers here,
The autumn’s settling shades embrowned
Nooks that it haunted near.
And so with time my vision less,
Yea, less and less
Makes of that Past my housemistress,
It dwindles in my eye;
It looms a far-off skeleton
And not a comrade nigh,
A fitful far-off skeleton
Dimming as days draw by.

Pandora's Box

2007-08-08T17:10:00.000-07:00

Ghost Town - Buried Treasure

2007-07-31T16:04:00.000-07:00

"Buried Treasure" was included in the AAAC National Juried Exhibit this summer. It was an honor to have this work selected. It is painted on a canvas that is 6" deep, creating an "object/painting" that pushes away from the wall.

Ghost Town

2007-06-23T10:56:00.000-07:00

Ghost Town - Seven Houses
32" x 32"
Acrylic on Canvas, SOLD

Ghost Town - Ice
36" x 36"
Acrylic on Canvas

Ghost Town
36"x 36"
Acrylic on canvas, SOLD

These are the recent Ghost Town Paintings. The concept evolved from concerns about the earth, and how climate changes might impact us and our progeny. The house can symbolize protection, confinment, boundaries, the shell of what we leave behind, past lives/other lives or how our actions or inaction impact the earth. These paintings are evolving as this year (2007) moves through the seasons. We are having a dry year, the grass is turning yellow, the usual wet spring was arid and unpredictable. It didn't give us the usual good foundation of moist soil for plants and animals. For the first time rabbits are scarce this year at our homestead - I have only seen two rabbits so far this year, and the frogs are absent. The Bears are distraut, roaming through residential areas looking for food. This painting reflects the heat. "Seven Houses" is ice melting, "Ice" is the confining and isolating effects of Ice Age.

Cats in Wonderland

2007-06-13T04:45:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed creating this painting for friends and their home in West Virginia. I was given fabric and wallpaper samples, photos of the cats and after conversation, designed and painted this 30" x 72" painting in acrylic on canvas. The interior of the home reminded me of a fantasy cottage, and I imagined what the view from the window out into a cat wonderland would look like.

For the Fairest

2007-05-06T18:12:00.000-07:00

Another Ghost Town painting (28" x 36"), this time with large apples, just happened last week. I had intended to paint a large white apple, and this is the result. Nothing ever turns out quite as planned! The title is from the events leanding up to the Trojan War. We are still fighting over "golden apples" after all these centuries - pride, vanity, greed seems to loom over our heads, homes and lives.

Ghost Town #7

2007-01-08T16:56:00.000-08:00

Winter in the mountains is a smoky, hazy gray visual experience. The clouds hang in the valleys and coves, curl around the base of the forest, while the tops of the trees glisten above the mist. The smell of wood buring in the fireplaces season the crisp, moist air with a spicy tang.

Ghost Town 2

2007-01-01T15:54:00.000-08:00

Winter colors are subtle and beautiful. In the mountains, the greys shift all day - from pinks, teals, violets and golden. If you look carefully, you can see the after image of the opposite color tinge the shadows of the clouds!

Ghost Town

2006-12-28T07:08:00.000-08:00

This is the finished version of Ghost Town. It is smokier, more detailed, hard to see on the internet, scratching and layering of thinly applied coats of paint. I painted over some areas, obscured others.

Ghost Town #4

2006-12-27T17:39:00.000-08:00

St. Lucy

2006-12-22T04:16:00.000-08:00

My painter friend Carlee was the model for this modern version of a portrait of St. Lucy. Celebrations for St Lucy, still a bit colored by prechristian paegan celebrations, are held midwinter. Her name means "light" and she is the patron saint of blindness. Ironically, her own history is shrouded in darkness, little is know about this legendary figure who died as a martyr in 304 AD. Different legends describe how St. Lucy lost her eyes, some say at the hands of persecutors, some report she gouged out her own eyes to send to a suitor. Early paintings often depict St. Lucy presenting her eyes on a platter. This little twig with eyes is taken from an early christian painting, intriguing and bizarre.

Uriel

2006-12-21T11:11:00.000-08:00

Uriel

This is Randy, painted as the archangel Uriel . In Milton's Paradise Lost, Uriel is the "sharpest sighted spirit in all of heaven". I got the idea of painting some portraits with the subject's mouth opened - maybe shouting, maybe in awe. It is great to have friends that are such good sports, and willing to be photographed in potentially unflattering ways!

News from Miami

2006-12-16T06:49:00.000-08:00

For those eager for info about the art world, check out Joanne Mattera's new blog entry about the Miami Art Fair events at www.joannemattera.blogspot.com.

Joanne is a former editor of Asheville's own Fiberarts Magazine, now turned painter full time and art critic and avid blogger. This entry is just in, and offers some interesting tidbits about what's happening in the art scene way down south. She admits her artistic preferences, so we get a view through her selective eyes.

Review of Recent Exhibition

2006-12-13T15:28:00.000-08:00

See the review of the North End Gallery show at http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2006/1213fleta.php

Disappearing Ink #9 - Be Here Now Diptych

2006-12-07T04:21:00.000-08:00

Be Here Now

This phrase describes the Vedic teaching that to dwell in the past or future is to be dead in the present. Thus, enlightenment lies in living continuously in the present. The phrase has been used by many writers and artists, including Richard Alpert (Baba Ram Dass), George Harrison and the rock band Oasis to give title to their art.

The large diptych on the right was inspired by the special event of a second blooming of our night blooming cereus this fall. Usually this cactus plant only blooms once a year, so it was an unexpected and surprising occurrence to see these new blossoms emerge after a beautiful display a few months earlier. The blossoms on this rather plain looking plant open up for one night only. It is a spectacular sight and the blossoms emit a deep and sweet fragrance. This is an display so easy to miss if one does not watch carefully and pay attention to the events of each day. The blossoms turned their little heads up toward the heavens, and opened in the quiet of night. We were the recipients of a special and unexpected gift this year, by paying close attention to the present moment.

It takes being in the present moment to enjoy the beauty of nature, and to find deep happiness in careful study of the world around us. The practice of drawing and painting can help us to slow down and pay attention to the things Mother Nature shows us every moment. Through careful observation, and an uncomplicated and dedicated practice in art, we gain mastery and experience the joy of hard work.

This is a snapshot of recent work on exhibit at North End Gallery in Asheville, NC. See the Link on the right for exhibition details. The Pears, the Disappearing Ink Series and portraits of Artists of Asheville are on display. Hope you can come and see my recent work!

Disappearing Ink # 8 - Ghost Town

2006-09-29T14:52:00.000-07:00

Disappearing Ink refers to our present global uncertainties, both cultural and enviornmental. Artists must wonder what will happen to the paint on fabric, wood or paper in the next century. Recurrent images are the egg, arrow, the branch and bone - now reduced to a linear X drawn with pencil or thin brush, and now the pear. A house structure and a earth vent shape, like a volcano emerged in this recent painting. Here is the painting as it is today, this painting is not yet finished.

Disappearing Ink # 7 - Pear and Egg

2006-09-29T14:47:00.000-07:00

Pear joined the other images in the Disappearing Ink series. This painting was started while making the ten pear mixed media pieces. Pear, egg and portal.

Disappearing Ink # 6 - Initiation

2006-09-29T14:10:00.000-07:00

I remember the mood, temperature and sultry smells of the Florida wetlands. Now many areas are covered over by homes, roads and malls. These precious environments have been swallowed up by the invasion of human sprawl, and preservation groups work to restore wetland areas and prevent further destruction of the native ecosystems. I grew up on a lake with alligators, snapping turtles, bass and bream fish and an interesting variety of plant life. Today you can see these unique ecosystems in aquariums.

Time is the fire in which we burn

2006-09-12T17:15:00.000-07:00

"Each minute bursts in the burning room,
The great globe reels in the solar fire,
Spinning the trivial and unique away.
(How all things flash! How all things flare!)
What am I now that I was then?
May memory restore again and again
The smallest color of the smallest day:
Time is the school in which we learn,Time is the fire in which we burn." Delmore Schwartz

Memento Mori

2006-09-12T17:03:00.000-07:00

Pear turns to gaze at a distant vision. "Remember that you are mortal," she whispers. Her small companion stands by her side, ready to travel.

Portrait Eight of Pear

2006-09-12T16:57:00.000-07:00

Several days past before I returned to the pear project. The next time, I found pear much changed. She had donned a rusty colored coat, with a big round button, her green skirt peeked out below. She gave a shrug in the afternoon light.

Inspiration

2006-09-08T12:06:00.000-07:00

The object, which is back of every true work of art, is the attainment of a state of being, a state of high functioning, a more than ordinary moment of existence. In such moments activity is inevitable, and whether this activity is with brush, pen, chisel, or tongue, its result is but a by-product of the state, a trace, the footprint of the state. (Robert Henri)

Disappearing Ink

2006-09-08T10:23:00.000-07:00

This painting (32" x 32") was recently completed after many reworks, and is currently in a juried show at the Tryon Fine Arts Center, Tyron, NC. I have struggled in an attempt to join abstract expression with personal symbols. It is like trying to capture dreams and make them solid with color and texture on a flat surface. A bit of magic is necessary to experience a moment of truth. There is no object to observe, just what is in memory, present experience and imagination. It is a slippery , elusive and maddening experience. Painting is frustration and bliss. This painting is titled Disappearing Ink #4 - Portal. The tombstone/doors appeared as I painted on layer after layer of blue translucent paint.

Pear Project

2006-09-07T19:33:00.000-07:00

The big pear tree in our back yard is raining large fruits. They drop to the ground still unripe, and if collected daily will ripen on the table in a few days. Last week I chose a pear to draw. It had a small tear, probably a bite from a small creature having lunch. I used paint, pencil, soft earth toned chalks and conte on a nice paper. I loved looking at the rusty brown markings on the skin of the pear. Here is the first drawing.

Day two with my Pear

2006-09-07T19:31:00.000-07:00

On the second day I turned the pear so I could see the wound. It looked like a little mouth, exposed fruit was fresh and clear looking. I drew this quickly, and used acrylic paints to smooth and simplify the chalk and conte marks. I was still getting aquainted with my pear.

Pear in Still Life

2006-09-07T19:25:00.000-07:00

I drew a simple line drawing of a pitcher, egg and drapery this summer, so added the pear and painted this with acrylics and used pencil and chalks. This one, on day three, looks cubist. Pear out of time, floating in the past.

Putting the Best Face Forward - Day four

2006-09-07T19:11:00.000-07:00

Pear is facing me with a round belly, her little belly button draws attention to the textures and marks spreading around her skin. I am looking at the tiny scars, and changing surface colors of Pear, and making pencil marks that have a special meaning. Pear is advancing toward a new existence keeping her secrets locked up. Bold Pear.

Pear in Sunlight, day five

2006-09-07T19:03:00.000-07:00

A little window floods the space with light, and paints little pane shaped highlights on Pear. Look at me this pear says, I am singing in the sunlight.

Day Six - On a Snowy background

2006-09-07T18:56:00.000-07:00

On day six, as the pear changes color, I wanted to create a pure place for Pear to live. The light in the afternoon made the pear appear yellow, so I painted a soft white and violet background with a mountain shape in the distant vista of the picture. Pear is pure, even with a wound, and stands tall on tiptoes whistling a winter tune.

One week with Pear

2006-09-07T18:47:00.000-07:00

I used colored chalks for this pear painting, along with acrylic paints, conte, charcoals and pencil. I am looking more and more at the detail with each new drawing- the rust colored markings are getting darker, the green of the pear is beginning to disappear. The tear is larger and darker, the lips drying and curving into the center. As the black area around the wound grows larger, little tan freckles are forming. I am layering chalks more heavily with each drawing to try and capture the texture that is becoming more complex. I though about drawing a new pear, but want to see what happens as this one decays. I love this pear