Arnold Sauther...retired art teacher and now full time artist

Celebrating Nature...an artist statement

 

Most of my recent paintings have been images celebrating nature's forms, colors, and patterns. Plants and insects, especially flowers, are my favorite subjects. I take photos and do sketches to determine how best to compose and interpret them. Often my ideas involve enlarging, abstracting, and symbolizing.

 

I painted Existential Hollyhocks from many sketches I made at the August garden work day at Charlie and Karen Lamitie-King's for the Artist in the Garden Exhibit at Pendragon Theater. I wanted to show a progression in its growth, its bursting  energy, and the curving design of both the bud and the flower. I put the buds in the foreground, which is unexpected, giving the flower a secondary place.
Paths of a Poppy is an example of a personalized flower. It  includes symbols associated with a particular person. The content of the message can be serious, humorous. or matter of fact. Some might miss the inner meaning but could still appreciate the unique design and decorative effect of the image.   This is an example of a personalized flower. I painted this poppy for our dining room wall. The rendering is entitled Paths of a Poppy. Its white rim suggests paths in life, and the different stages of the flower depict the aging process. Within the center I put symbols for worship of God and nature. I have created several personalized flowers for family members. Each has turned out to be unique for the one who requested it.
Several of my paintings this year are surreal and imaginative in style emanating from my love of art history. Currently one in the display window at forartsake. It is a painting entitled Be Fruitful and is of a group of tomatoes. The large size of the tomatoes gives them a Daliesque appearance and expresses a statement about fertility in nature.  I painted this image in January 2005 and call it Cosmic Butterfly since the flower center looks similar to the sun and a galaxy. Those who see it like both the color and design. One of our grandchildren said he liked how the butterfly has  inside orange and outside gold. This large painting takes advantage of lots of space and light in our kitchen .



Artist Gallery One

Click to enlarge image.

  
	Paintbrush Queen Anne's Lace Hollyhock Gumtree Cone Flowers 

  Daisy  Tomatoes Poppy Old Car Mexican Dualism