Inner Sanctum

Inner Sanctum © Marina Broere, 2009 oil/alkyd/cold wax/linen, 24x48"

Another one of my new paintings, one that ended up completely different as what I started with. What I always call, let the painting paint itself. I started this painting with an idea about color, I just had purchased a new beautiful violet from Gamblin and I envisioned using it with creamy whites, some green and deep brown. Gradually the white disappeared, as did the greens and memories of the old church next to the Center of Art i Natura in Spain started creeping in and taking shape.
Suddenly the painting became an intimate dark space with shapes that hint at a window, an old staircase, a holy water basin. The church in question is tremendously old, with just a dirt floor, very small and extremely simple and entering it gave me a mysterious feeling about centuries old rituals and worship taking place on that same spot where I now entered with my 21st century links to the world. Of course this feeling was not new to me, having lived i Europe for most part of my life I'm used to old buildings, cities etc., but having spent the last decade in the USA it made me look at all that richness with different eyes and appreciate it even more.

Placa Reial

Marina Broere: PLACA REIAL, oil/alkyd/cold wax/linen, 2008, 20x20"

This is one of the paintings I finished by the end of last year, still working on the inspiration from my artist residency in Spain. It's a 20x20 square canvas. Placa Reial is one of the squares in Barcelona that you reach through a narrow alley that then opens up into this wide but enclosed space, terraces, a fountain, lots of people. From where I was sitting I looked across the square into another entree alley that opened up on another sunny street and in front of me on the square a woman in a red velvet dress was assisting her partner in juggling. And that's how this came about....

Don't forget to visit my blog 'Studio Storage', where new paintings that are discounted have been posted!

The White Places

Some of the most amazing landscapes that I've come across are in New Mexico and among them are the white rock formations that were one of Georgia O'Keeffe's favorite subjects. I believe she called them the white places. Eventhough I knew O'Keeffe's paintings of the white places, nothing prepared me for the outer worldly beauty of the real landscape. These tall rocks look like they are the work of some giant sculptor, some have the lacey structure of gothic cathedrals, some look like they have been piled up with a little dome on top. If you follow the path and enter the narrow valley you find yourself surrounded by all tones of white and some pinks and blacks, a vibrating deep blue sky usually over you and just the sound of the wind and some distant birds.
I have visited these rock formations on several occasions, and made sketches and water colors there that have resulted in these two small paintings, that can be seen at gallery The Edge in Santa Fe

The Edge, Santa Fe

Here is a photo of my painting 'Kindling' , the one on the left, in an installation in Gallery The Edge, Santa Fe, New Mexico where we just spent a nice winter break, that is: a break from the severe cold as we have it in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.