This painting is called “Free Spirit.”
Free Spirit. 36″ x 12″, Oil on Canvas, © 2017 Cedar Lee
Like my painting, “Easy Growth,” it’s on the same dramatic vertical 36″ x 12″ size canvas.
The flower looks like a free spirit because of the way its face is tilting to the side, like it’s enjoying soaking up the sunshine.
Detail: Free Spirit. 36″ x 12″, Oil on Canvas, © 2017 Cedar Lee
The abstract drippy paint background is spectacular, with varied effects on different parts of the canvas. The yellow and orange paint drips down into the red in the middle of the canvas.
Detail: Free Spirit. 36″ x 12″, Oil on Canvas, © 2017 Cedar Lee
The paint is speckled in patterns of many tiny dots, with drips and carefree splatters running through the speckles. The vertical lines interplay with horizontal brush strokes that show from underneath.
Detail: Free Spirit. 36″ x 12″, Oil on Canvas, © 2017 Cedar Lee
These subtle horizontal lines hint at the water out of which the lotus grows.
Free Spirit. 36″ x 12″, Oil on Canvas, © 2017 Cedar Lee
There is a beautiful tension between the background pulling everything down and the lotus flower shooting upwards. The impossibly exaggerated length of the stem contributes to this visual tension.
Artwork in Cedar Lee studio. On easel: “Free Spirit.” Background, left-right, top-bottom: “Lotus Study 2,” “Forest Nymph,” “Dance of the Redwoods,” “Koi Circles”
