Sun paintings by guest: Jeanie Nelson

I have these images of suns that always come back to me. I won't deny the Alexander Girard influence here, but it's a modern folkart style, and no one artist has a creative patent on. In general, I just LOVE mid-century modern. And everyone--from a Paul Klee painting to wrapping paper designed by an unknown artist--there are these beautiful, serene faces. As a kid I was fascinated by the way one continuous line curved to create the eyebrows and nose. I still hunt diligently through old illustrations and patterns, waiting for one of these faces to pop out at me, and show me yet another variation on such a simple concept.



A while back I bought a bunch of canvases, but couldn't bring myself to actually paint anything on them. I kept doodling these suns and starburst forms in my sketchbook, and finally I just decided to blow them up and paint them. They are gracing the walls of our humble and poorly-lit apartment, and have brightened up the mood tenfold. Painting them turned out to be rather painstaking for someone with my patience level, so I plan to silkscreen the designs and sell them as limited addition prints. But for now, there's always my little letterpressed "Suns" notecard.