Cybele's Tower, 12x24 inches, oil and wood burning, $2000.00

There are two interpretations that I like of this piece. One is that of the five thousand year old Goddess Cybele who was mediator between nature and the works of man. A common depiction of her is her godhead crowned by city walls. The other interpretation is the Tower of the Tarot, which is the life and home we make for ourselves, which supports us, but also holds us in. In the Tarot the tower is falling, stuck by lightning. So nature does demand change.

Pyrography and Oil Process

Amanda Scott Artist Statement

I use the characteristics of the wood to determine the design. I begin with looking at the grain of the wood, and I wait to be inspired by what my mind imagines there. Sometimes I get the whole painting in a flash and go looking for the right piece of wood. Generally I like swirling, water like, patterns.

I may spray a thin layer of metal paint over the wood, perhaps stain it any color I like, or I will leave it natural. Then I draw the design out, keeping in mind the flow of the wood. I blend my lines into the that. Then burn the dark lines in with a phyrographic tool. All the shading I do with oils.

I will detail the face of my figure, but only draw out with minimal shading, her companion subject. I like to blend many styles (drawing, painting) of image making together to provide interest, and to also express my message which is that change is constant and that all things are connected. To finish a painting is to kill it with perfect stillness. I want movement, a sense of growth, appearing and disappearing of elements.  

Forest's Cradle, Oil and Gold leaf on plexiglass, 36x48 inches. $4000.00

Artist Statement Amanda Scott

Fiona, a princess, cast out of her kingdom to live in the solitude of the forest. Aren't we all Kings and Queens forgetting where we've come from?

This painting is about how nature supports us. It is also about the feeling of curling up and being embraced by a cradle of tree roots.

Process:

This is an oil painting on Plexiglas. The glass was finely sanded and spray gessoed. The image was sketched out. The gold leaf applied to the negative space. The image was created using a reference photo I took of the model, Fiona. The painting was built up slowly through layers of transparent paint. More gold leaf was applied. Then a final varnish.

Air Elemental

 Artist Statement for Air Elemental

Grounded in nature she is a home for Weavers to make their nests. She is the bridge between the sky and the earth. She is appearing and disappearing, such is her supernatural gift to belong to two worlds. She is human and nature spirit. Patron of creatures that fly, to birds, and especially the butterfly. She is shy yet powerful. Eternal and graspable.

Pyrography and Oil Process

Amanda Scott Artist Statement

I use the characteristics of the wood to determine the design. I begin with looking at the grain of the wood, and I wait to be inspired by what my mind imagines there. Sometimes I get the whole painting in a flash and go looking for the right piece of wood. Generally I like swirling, water like, patterns.

I may spray a thin layer of metal paint over the wood, perhaps stain it any color I like, or I will leave it natural. Then I draw the design out, keeping in mind the flow of the wood. I blend my lines into the that. Then burn the dark lines in with a phyrographic tool. All the shading I do with oils.

I will detail the face of my figure, but only draw out with minimal shading, her companion subject. I like to blend many styles (drawing, painting) of image making together to provide interest, and to also express my message which is that change is constant and that all things are connected. To finish a painting is to kill it with perfect stillness. I want movement, a sense of growth, appearing and disappearing of elements.  

Embrace, oil on canvas, 24 x 36"

 This painting was quite a project. I had expected it to take two weeks. It took three months. Granted, I did some less involved works in between stages. A works as monumental as this requires rest periods.

I didn't realize at the onset of the project what a magnificent monster it would become. There are a dozen ways it could have gone, and this, I think, is the best of all possibilities.

This piece is bright and beautiful, fun and whimsical. Much of my recent works have been subdued and calm recently. This painting is about energy and movement. To be embraced and embrace life in full acceptance and celebration even though the outcome isn't assured. 

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 Artist Statement for Forest Guardian Series:

Remember that we are of the earth. There is a legend among the tribes of South America that there are plant spirits that look humanoid. They guard the forest and its secrets. I have a friend who saw one once. She said it looked like a human tree.

I saw an aboriginal painting of a family. The mother had branches that spread out and connected to all her family members. The Hawaiians liken the family to the Taro plant and it's intertwined roots. Ohana means family, the root word oha refers to the roots of the Taro, the staff of life.
These stories link us to the plant word and so do my paintings. I wish to celebrate and protect our connection to the world. I created the Forest Guardian Series  to illustrate this message.

These are pyrographic (wood burning) works on wood panel. Painted in Oils.

Forest Guardian, oil, 11 x 14"

     My first painting, “Forest Guardian”, is of girl warrior who looks beseechingly at the viewer. She is strong and fragile like our tenuous connection to nature. On her head is a bird's nest 

Thousand Years Solitude, oil, 11x14


 

 “Thousand Years of Solitude”. The woman is immortal, made of flesh and alabaster. She keeps her face to the sunshine. She's waited to long that weaver birds make a nest of her hair and fungi grow like a gowns ruffles. When will she wake? What wisdom would she bring us of the silent forest?

Tree Spirit 8x16"

 “Tree Spirit”, I am still figuring out. She's half in this world and the other. Let's say that she can only be seen by the worthy and she doesn't know whether to turn towards you to speak or turn away and disappear. Her head supports a tree and home to an Owl, symbol of wisdom.

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Artist Statement for “Daphne Awakens”, Oil and Gold Leaf on canvas, 24x36”

As the ancient story goes, Daphne was a spirited, marriage-hating young huntress. When Apollo beheld her, her arms bare, her hair in haunting disarray, his heart was set ablaze and he set out in pursuit of her. Daphne fled, and she was an excellent runner. Even Apollo was hard put to overtake her; still, he soon gained. Daphne saw her father's river and cried out to him to help her. Her father transformed her into a laurel tree. The story ends with Apollo honoring the tree.

I am sure Daphne didn't expect to become encased in a tree. She probably felt it was quite unfair. To this thought I have decided to finish her story happily. The spell her father put on her wears off. This painting is the moment she realizes her human self again.

Being encased in a tree is a haunting archetype I have found. It speaks of imprisonment and protection; also to vulnerability when this is stripped away.
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Kali Maal in Pink Painting

Oil, Acrylic, wood burning 16 x 20 "

A Tantric expression of the Kali Maal. She is the liberator of souls from the material. Not only death of the ego and the body, but also the life bringer, the regenerative force.
With her right hand she beckons us to have our minds cut from us, and the blood of life collected in a golden cup. The cup is the primordial womb. There are strands of gold feeding into her like the web of energy that is woven by the fates. Tantra means to weave. She is the doorway and the weaver of fate.

She supports and creates the material from which your soul is liberated from. All is divine.

I meet people that believe there is evil in creation when what is evil is often just being stuck in illusion. This fearsome Goddess wears the skulls as trophies for all the souls she has liberated. Death is not to be feared. What you think is your dome is often only a doorway to greater understanding.
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