Thursday, November 18, 2010

The Beauty of Art, The Essence of a Runner

I love art. I love the emotions and passion that a painting can evoke.  I love how I can look at a painting or piece of art and feel so moved and inspired.  I also love how art is so personal. What one person might find beauty and meaning in, another person might not even give a second glance.  I love all kinds of art but I wanted to give a shout out to my favorite local artist here in Oregon, Cher Odum. Cher's work is colorful, vibrant, whimsical, and ENERGIZING.  Each piece is full of the passion, vibrant energy and peaceful mindfulness that she lives her life with.  When I see her work, it makes me happy.  It reminds me of the richness and glory of living.  Why I'm even more excited to introduce this artist to you is because she just announced today that she is going to be coming out with a new series of paintings inspired by the soul of a Runner!  In her own style, she will try to capture the essence of what running is to so many of us.  To many of us, there is a spiritual side to running and for most of us, running is our passion.  It gives us JOY and makes us feel fully and wonderfully ALIVE!  Cher's art already evokes these feelings in me so I'm thrilled to hear that she will be creating something that will relate specifically to running! I'm even more excited that when she does come out with this Running Series of paintings, she is going to give me a set of cards with prints of all her New Running Series paintings to use for my first blog giveaway to some lucky Runner that also loves her art!

I've included just a few small pictures sampling some of her different paintings.  Many of her pieces are in The Dragon Fire Studio and Gallery in Cannon Beach, Oregon.  You can view most of her paintings at the Fine Art America site. 



I have a print of this on a card that I framed and put in my living room.











She even has a series out for the animal lovers.  I love her abstract and colorful looking Cats!

*  All these pictures are protected by copyright law and use of them without permission by the artist is prohibited by law. 

This is a painting she was recently hired to paint for a birthday present for a friend's wife.  She was asked to paint the parents with their four children. The border is made up of pictures that represent meaningful things from this family's life.  Every image is something that holds a special memory to them.





Here's an idea of what her gift sets of cards look like.  This is just one boxed set of six cards that I bought where I got to choose my favorite prints to include.  If you know someone who has similar art tastes, it makes the perfect gift. I've often given these cards to people I know who will love them or I frame them in a 5x7 frame. 


In thinking about my first blog giveaway, I thought about giving a boxed set of her non-running cards and letting the lucky winner choose the prints they like but I'm not sure yet.  I think I might just wait for her to come out with her Running Series and see how that goes!   Definitely not for everybody but certainly art that speaks to me!  Such is the beauty of ART! 

Do you like art?  What kind of Art do you like and who is your favorite artist?

Amanda

9 comments:

  1. fantastic!

    love canon beach as well. 3-4 times a year driving down from seattle for some looooong weekends and where my wife and i spent our honeymoon.

    again, great pieces!

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  2. Oh my god...I love those!! I really liked the one that resembled a tree. And, that painting she did for the family was amazing! I would love something like that for my family! Thanks for posting about her!

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  3. I love her work, it is somewhat whimsical but it has such an emotional impact, I agree with your interpretations. The homes with stars is my favorite, it's so warm.
    Thanks for sharing these, just gorgeous.

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  4. those are amazing!!! I love all kinds of art...it seems lately most of mine has been replaced with my monkeys art or photographs, but my favorite painting of all time is Starry Night. thank you so much for sharing!

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  5. Art has a very special place with me. Thank you for sharing this post; I needed it for a different focus right now. Peace

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  6. I just finished viewing all the galleries. Wow. Thanks again for sharing this post.

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  7. I love this and thanks so much for introducing this fabulous artist to me!! I look forward to a running series!

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  8. I'm so glad to hear that people have enjoyed this art. I guess I didn't say the artist was my mama. :) My husband thought that was funny but I guess I just didn't want people saying they loved her art just because she was my mom. She really is my favorite artist and I love Art. Picasso and Matisse are other favorites of mine. I could go on an on about art.
    I believe in my mom as an artist more than she will ever know...she is amazing with her gifts. Just moved here two years ago and has not stopped creating these amazing images from her brilliant mind. I hope she keeps on keeping on because it is when she is creating art that she is most alive.

    I doubt any of you are even reading this comment since I'm still not sure how that works with blogging...I'm pretty sure you'd have to be coming back to these comments to see this. I'm glad to see there are some art lovers out there and especially people that love this art that is so near and dear to me.

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  9. SO absolutely truly wonderful. Full of soul and inspiration. I understand what you are saying about how when she is creating her art she is more alive...I feel the same way. Without that creative outlet something dark can settle in and make me feel down. Same way with running...when it is missing there is a hole. Right now I am 30 weeks pregnant and running is a little harder to come by, although I am still doing it just not in the same way, but my art is a major focus and outlet for me. Doing it on my own and doing it with my children. Brings a vibrancy to my life that only art can! looking at your mother's work invokes a huge smile on my face - I love it!!!

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