Alchemilla Painting

My name is Stephanie Meredith, and I am getting my MFA in visual studies at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, CA. Because graduate school is extremely expensive and living expenses are high, I am going to graduate with huge debt. Because I have decided to pursue an art career, my income will not be large, either. So, I am asking for sponsors to help continue my studies: All proceeds from these paintings and prints will go directly to my grad school fees. If you would like more information, other artwork for sell, and how to become asponsor go to my blog: stephaniemeredith.tumblr.net Artist Statement My work strives to give reverence to small wonders in a world full of complexities: A contemporary world, which imposes upon us an overwhelming onslaught of information and images. Amidst the ugliness of war, global warming and poverty I am still astounded by the beauty of life. By using this duality of ugliness and beauty my work becomes a spiritual practice of taking in the horrors and transforming them into a condition of beauty. Within this transformation, painting becomes an act of grace by looking closely at the world with childish wonder: I say thank you to it. This intimacy determines the content of my work, revolving around microscopic life and nature. By painting bacteria, viruses and other aggravations while also using traditionally beautiful subject matter (water, flowers, etc) I seek to create a discussion: What makes something beautiful or ugly? Can a repulsive or distressing life have glimmers of hope in it? These are the questions that I am striving to answer in my work. My method of preparation for each painting determines much of my expression of abstraction. This includes creating references from torn images of microscopic life and nature, which I combined into a collage, and maps where I use the roads and waterways for the compositional arrangement. To enhance a composition I layer shapes and line over the image. Once I start painting, my process is one of glazes and blending in a precise and traditional method, using a vivid palette based on microscopic photos. With this technique, I create an illusion of texture and luminous light. This attentive process becomes ritual meditation similar to Tibetan sand painting (though I do not destroy my painting afterward) just as my conceptual ideas of beauty and ugliness become spiritual musings.