Gallery Open by Appointment
If you have enjoyed the individual postings in the
Medicine for Melancholy series
or
Art as an Oasis,™
or have seen some of my paintings in person,
on this website or through other media,
come experience the effect of 70-80 of my paintings
displayed together in my studio in St. Paul, MN.
For further information click here
EXCITING NEWS!!
I'm thrilled to announce my new painting
"Dancing with your Baby"
has been accepted into the
2021 Minnesota State Fair
Fine Arts Exhibition
This will be the first time showing this piece
since it came off my easel.
The show runs daily
August 26 - September 6
9 am - 9 pm
Minnesota State Fair
Fine Arts Center
Thank you for supporting the arts!
Dancing with your Baby
Oil on Belgian Linen
30 in x 40 in
As seen in Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine
Volume 18 | June 2021
Umbrellas, Walking Sticks and a Rabbit
2020 | Oil on Canvas | 16 in x 16 in
Available through Quinlan Visual Arts Center
This painting was selected
for
Oil Painters of America 2021 Salon Show
Juried Exhibition of Traditional Oils
OPA's 2021 Salon Show is being hosted by
Quinlan Visual Arts Center
located in Gainesville, Georgia
June 10 through August 7, 2021
For more information:
2021
Art Renewal Center™
15th International ARC Salon Exhibition
Still Life
Semi-Finalist
For more information on the exhibition:
Blushing Roses
2018 | Oil on Linen | 24 in x 36 in
Studio Pintura
Juried Floral Exhibition - 2021
Juried by A.R.C. Associate Living Master Painter
Charles Gilbert Kapsner
Opening Reception - Friday March 19
5:30-8:30PM
Award Presentation at 6:30
Social Distancing Observed - Please wear a mask
Also open: Saturday, Saturday, March 20, 12-4
Exhibition Dates: March 19-April 24
Studio Pintura
1500 Jackson St. NE #294
Minneapolis, MN 55413
Art as an Oasis™ Series
Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger
Artist’s Statement
This week’s posting is another study in charcoal, a precursor to an oil painting titled “Egyptian Princess.” That painting and this charcoal are part of an ongoing series of “Strong Women of the Bible.”*
In contrast to the charcoal I posted two weeks ago of a head study, this charcoal shows the full figure of the Egyptian Princess who helped create a nation by taking a helpless baby from the Nile River and raising him as her son. The charcoal depicts Batya – regal and aloof – a moment before she turns her life upside down and changes the history of the world. She saves the child’s life, despite the decree of her father, Pharaoh of Egypt, that all first-born Jewish males be killed at birth.
The baby, of course, is Moses.
he is roaring with fury.
No amount of me trying to explain myself was doing any good. I didn't even know what was going on inside of me, so how could I have explained it to them?
Sierra D. Waters
Debbie
The boughs, without becoming detached from the trunk
grow away from it.
― Victor Hugo
Les Misérables
Children betrayed their parents by becoming their own people.
Leslye Walton
The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender
Egyptian Princess
Charcoal on Strathmore Paper
26.50 in x 22 in
Head Study For Fearsome and Fearless
Charcoal on Strathmore Sketch Paper
18 in x 24 in
Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger
Artist’s Statement
In last week's post [click link here] I described my experience drawing in charcoal and explained how currently I use charcoal almost exclusively to do “studies” in preparation for a painting in oil. As an example, I posted the charcoal study I did for “Fearsome and Fearless”.
Circumstances forced me to do the study in just two hours. I worked intensely, even furiously, to depict the emotions I was imagining while dealing with the emotions of losing my terrific model. In contrast, I worked on the painting off and on over a span of months. During that time, the emotional state being depicted morphed through several further phases. In the charcoal the woman is clenching her teeth and she is looking obliquely. She is clearly very angry, but she is restraining herself, keeping that emotion in. In the painting, her eyes are looking straightforward, she is engaged with and confronting the lion, even her hair is more animated. She is roaring with fury.
The roar of a lion projects a jittery wave of terror that no mortal wants to mess with. It even brings boisterous insanity to instant attention; to attract a lion’s attention is to put one’s head in a lion’s mouth.
Vincent Okay Nwachukwu,
Weighty 'n' Worthy African Proverbs
Only in art will the lion lie down with the lamb,
and the rose grow without thorn.
― Martin Amis
contemporary British novelist
Head Study for Fearsome and Fearless
Charcoal on Strathmore Sketch Paper
18 in x 24 in
Prototype as if you are right. Listen as if you are wrong.
Diego Rodriguez Telechea
soccer player
The value of a prototype is in the education it gives you,
not in the [prototype] itself.
Amari Cooper
American football player
It isn't enough to pick a path—you must go down it. By doing so, you see things you couldn't possibly see when you started out; you may not like what you see, some of it may be confusing, but at least you will have, as we like to say, "explored the neighborhood." The key point here is that even if you decide you're in the wrong place, there is still time to head toward the right place.
Ed Catmull,
Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration
Head Study For Fearsome and Fearless
Charcoal on Strathmore Sketch Paper
18 in x 24 in
Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger
Artist’s Statement
When I first started working seriously in art, before I made the jump to full-time, professionally guided study, I worked almost exclusively with charcoal. Charcoal seemed to focus me on shape, shading, texture, and the interplay of light and shadow – without the added complexity of color and hue. And, by no coincidence, charcoal is the medium for the first year of full-time study at the Atelier in Minneapolis, Minnesota (where I studied for four years).
Today, I use charcoal almost exclusively to do “studies” in preparation for a painting in oil. A study seems to me like a prototype for an engineer. Sometimes the prototype contemplates the entire picture I contemplate painting. Often, the prototype focuses on one very important subpart of the imagined image.
Doing a study always teaches me – sometimes to reimagine the setting that will be the context for the detail; sometimes to reconfigure the entire imagery,
occasionally – “this is not a painting I want to do – at least not now.”
Below is the charcoal study that I did in preparation for a painting that has drawn considerable attention – Fearsome and Fearless. The painting juxtaposes the head and shoulders of a lion with the head and shoulders of a woman.
The charcoal below is the study of the woman.
Next week I will post the finished oil painting and explain how the figure of the woman evolved.
Prototype as if you are right. Listen as if you are wrong.
Diego Rodriguez Telechea
soccer player
The value of a prototype is in the education it gives you,
not in the [prototype] itself.
Amari Cooper
American football player
It isn't enough to pick a path—you must go down it. By doing so, you see things you couldn't possibly see when you started out; you may not like what you see, some of it may be confusing, but at least you will have, as we like to say, "explored the neighborhood." The key point here is that even if you decide you're in the wrong place, there is still time to head toward the right place.
Ed Catmull,
Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration
Small Painting of Tulips
Oil on Wood Panel
5 in x 5 in x 1.25 in
2021
Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger
Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful,
we must carry it with us, or we find it not.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Essays, First Series, ch.12
Love is a rose but you better not pick it
Only grows when it's on the vine
Handful of thorns and you'll know you've missed it
Lose your love when you say the word mine.
Neil Young, Love is a Rose
When the night has been too lonely
And the road has been too long
And you think that love is only
For the lucky and the strong.
Just remember in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snow
Lies the seed that with the sun's love
In the spring becomes the rose.
Bette Midler, The Rose
If someone loves a flower of which just one example exists among all the millions and millions of stars, that's enough to make him happy when he looks at the stars. He tells himself 'My flower's up there somewhere...' But if the sheep eats the flower, then for him it's as if, suddenly, all the stars went out. And that isn't important?
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
(the prince is speaking of his rose)
Artist’s Statement
A single rose, painted on the smallest of surfaces. The background purposely indistinct: no stems, no leaves, no thorns. The vibrantly red petals and their asymmetrical but beautiful pattern are thus the focus and entirety of the painting.
– CCSK
Small Painting of Tulips
Oil on Wood Panel
5 in x 5 in x 1.25 in
2021
Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger
Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful,
we must carry it with us, or we find it not.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Essays, First Series, ch.12
“I like smallness. I like the perverse audacity of someone aiming tiny.”
― Kyo Maclear, Birds Art Life: A Year of Observation
Canadian novelist
Smallness is subversive, because smallness can creep into smaller places and wreak transformation at the most vulnerable, cellular level. In a time when largeness is threatening to topple us, I wish to remember and praise the beauty of smallness, in order to banish the Goliath of loneliness.
― Sarah Ruhl, 100 Essays I Don't Have Time to Write
poet, essayist, playwright
The most difficult thing is not the belief in the infinite. No. The most difficult thing of all is to believe that the infinite would be so grand and gracious as to reside in the smallness of us.
That is what requires the greatest faith.
― Craig D. Lounsbrough, The Eighth Page: A Christmas Journey
author, life coach
Artist’s Statement
This week’s painting might seem to be a detail from a much larger work –
that is “a small part of a work of art, enlarged to show a close-up of its features.” In fact, this painting stands alone – though it is very small (5 x 5 inches). Painting on a very small surface raises a set of special issues, including the need for greater precision in fine details, especially in depicting the interplay between light and shadow. Yet despite the special challenges, small paintings provide me respite from the pressure I sometimes load on myself when doing large paintings. A small painting requires just as much care and precision, but, because the physical context is so much smaller, errors are less concerning and fixes more easily made. And sometimes, beauty and meaning emerge from just a few brush strokes.
– CCSK
Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger
Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful,
we must carry it with us, or we find it not.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Essays, First Series, ch.12
I think people should maybe just go out into the garden and watch a ladybug crawl across a flower and relax their mind.
Harland Williams
artist, author, comedian
dual citizen: Canada and U.S.
The older I get, the more I'm conscious of ways very small things can make a change in the world. Tiny little things,
but the world is made up of tiny matters, isn't it?
Sandra Cisneros
American poet and novelist
You know who must be very secure in their masculinity? Male ladybugs.
Jay Leno
internationally known car collector
formerly late night TV host
Artist’s Statement
If memory serves, my husband gave me these tulips. Two days later, I found myself distressingly anxious about a series of paintings I had then been working on for several weeks. I impulsively starting painting the tulips for escape, and the relief was immediate. Without every having read Harland William’s comment, I found that imagining and painting the lady bugs immediately eased my mind.
–CCSK
Tulips and Ladybugs
Oil on Canvas
20 in x 16 in
2021
Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger
Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful,
we must carry it with us, or we find it not.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Essays, First Series, ch.12
You unlock this door with the key of imagination.
Beyond it is another dimension:
a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind.
Rod Serling
The Twilight Zone: Complete Stories
There are flowers everywhere for people who want to see them.
often attributed to
Honoré Balzac
as a translation of words he wrote in French
Does not this comprehend all, in fact? .... A little garden in which to walk, and immensity in which to dream. At one's feet that which can be cultivated and plucked; over head that which one can study and meditate upon: some flowers on earth, and all the stars in the sky.
Victor Hugo
Les Misérables
trans. 1887 –– Isabel F. Hapgood
Artist’s Statement
The yellow rose and its companion bud are from life, and I see their beauty and intense color as the painting's focal point. The background is from my imagination, but many viewers think it representational. Of course, what one viewer "sees" as the reality being represented often differs substantially from the reality "seen" by another.
– CCSK
Homage to Cambria
Oil on Canvas
16 in x 16 in
2018
A Sign of Friendship
Oil on Canvas
15 in x 24 in
2018
Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger
Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful,
we must carry it with us, or we find it not.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Essays, First Series, ch.12
Do you think it’s unkind to suppose
That the desert’s no home for a rose.
Guess I’ll always wish I could know
Things you never told me
Kimmie Rhodes – Windblown
music played in the opening scene
of the movie, The Yellow Rose
Well, the yellow rose of Texas is the only gal I love.
Her eyes are even bluer than Texas skies above.
Her heart’s as big as Texas and wherever I may go,
I’ll remember her forever because I love her so.
The Yellow Rose of Texas
in the version recorded by Elvis Presley
Artist’s Statement
Despite the lyrics quoted above, in the language of flowers yellow roses symbolize friendship – hence the title of this work. By happenstance, yellow roses were my mother’s favorite flower and are the favorite of one of my Israeli nieces.
(My favorite flower is the red rose [love], when presented to me
by my husband.)
– CCSK
Poppies in the Field
Oil on Canvas
17.5 in x 17.5 in
2018
Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger
Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful,
we must carry it with us, or we find it not.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Essays, First Series, ch.12
Never be afraid to be a poppy in a field of daffodils.
Michaela Mabinty DePrince
Sierra Leonean-American ballet dancer.
Life has always poppies in her hands. Of course, now and then
things linger. I once wore nothing but violets all through one
season….
Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Gray
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below
John McCrae, In Flanders Fields
poem written to memorialize the death of a friend
during the second battle of Ypres (World War I)
[first stanza]
.
Artist’s Statement
I remember first hearing the word “poppies” as part of a sleeping spell
cast by the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz
“Poppies … poppies -- poppies will put them to sleep.”
The poppies in this painting have a much happier frame of reference.
I found them growing among the weeds in a field in Israel. The field,
which had once defensive structures for the military, was soon to
become a vineyard.
The poppy has a color so vibrant as to stand out wherever the flower
appears. I hope that this painting depicts that vibrancy.
– CCSK
Blushing Roses
Oil on Belgian Linen
24 in x 36 in
2018
Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger
Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful,
we must carry it with us, or we find it not.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Essays, First Series, ch.12
O my Luve is like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June;
O my Luve is like the melody
That’s sweetly played in tune.
Robert Burns
A Red, Red Rose
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.
William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet
Act I, Scene II
The Little Prince
speaking to a group of roses
You are beautiful … [and] to be sure, an ordinary passerby would think that my rose looked just like you — the rose that belongs to me. But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing. Because she is my rose.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
The Little Prince
Artist’s Statement
My mother’s favorite flower was a yellow rose. Red is by far my favorite,
although I’ve never met a rose I didn’t like.
For example, I think the roses depicted above are beautiful, though they are neither red nor yellow nor even monochrome. The interplay of pink and white in the petals gives the impression of a blush – hence the name. The long stems provide color contrast – color that is darker, less variegated, and less pronounced.
– CCSK
Stargazers
Oil on Canvas
40 in x 30 in
2018
Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger
The modest Rose puts forth a thorn,
The humble sheep a threat'ning horn:
While the Lily white shall in love delight,
Nor a thorn nor a threat stain her beauty bright.
William Blake
Songs of Innocence and of Experience
[W]hy are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Mathew 6:28-29
(American Standard Version)
Stars open among the lilies.
Are you not blinded by such expressionless sirens?
This is the silence of astounded souls.
Sylvia Plath
Crossing the Water
Artist’s Statement
The Stargazer lily is a hybrid, created so that the petals look to the sky rather than curve downward. Various colors exist, some quite exuberant. These Stargazers are primarily white, which allows the front-facing flower to provide the perfect backdrop for an intricate and elegant pattern in purple.
– CCSK
Stargazers
Oil on Canvas
40 in x 30 in
2018
Purple Crocuses
Oil on Canvas
36 in x 24 in
2018
Purple Crocuses
Oil on Canvas
36 in x 24 in
2018
Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger
as vaccines make travel foreseeable again
souvenirs from past travels
If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly,
our whole life would change.
often misattributed to Buddha
Jack Kornfield
Buddha’s Little Instruction Book
A single crocus blossom ought to be enough to convince our heart
that springtime, no matter how predictable, is somehow a gift,
gratuitous, gratis, a grace.
David Steindl-Rast
Benedictine Monk
You might think that after thousands of years of coming up too soon
and getting frozen, the crocus family would have had
a little sense knocked into it.
Robert Benchley
American Comedian
I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple
in a field somewhere and don't notice it.
― Alice Walker, The Color Purple
Artist’s Statement
Purple – for some time in Ancient Rome, reserved to the Emperor.
Purple – given an entirely different meaning by Jimmi Hendrix in
“Purple Haze” and yet another by Prince in “Purple Rain.”
In my painting, the greenery has the greater height,
but the purple crocuses draw the eye.
They are the focus.
– CCSK
Penzance Bouquet
Oil on Canvas
30 in x 24 in
2018
Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger
as vaccines make travel foreseeable again
souvenirs from past travels
If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly,
our whole life would change.
often misattributed to Buddha
Jack Kornfield
Buddha’s Little Instruction Book
We've got to learn how to not look at creed or color. Look at how
beautiful a bouquet of roses looks like - different color roses, all
look beautiful. We have to learn how to let our beauty of the
color of our roses shine to the world.
Charles Bradley
American singer
“The Screaming Eagle of Soul”
It's better to get a rosebud while you're alive
than a whole bouquet after you're dead.
John Franklin “Home Run” Baker
professional baseball player
who hit a career high 12 home runs in 1913
Artist’s Statement
Penzance is a port town on the southern side of the English
county of Cornwall, about three miles north of the town of Mousehole. Penzance was once known for its pirates, and many parts of Cornwall have a hardscrabble kind of beauty. This painting reflects another side of Cornwall – the beauty of its flowers.
– CCSK
Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger
as vaccines make travel foreseeable again
souvenirs from past travels
If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly,
our whole life would change.
often misattributed to Buddha
Jack Kornfield
Buddha’s Little Instruction Book
A tulip doesn’t strive to impress anyone.
It doesn’t struggle to be different than a rose.
It doesn’t have to. It is different.
And there’s room in the garden for every flower.
Marianne Williamson
contemporary author
Tip toe through the window
By the window, that is where I'll be
Come tip toe through the tulips with me
Tip toe from the garden
By the garden of a willow tree
And tip toe through the tulips with me
Al Dubin & Joseph A Burke
song writers
popularized in the late ‘60s by the comedian, Tiny Tim
Artist's Statement
I traveled to the south of England, visiting a few castles and manors scattered about. In one manor in Cornwall I walked into an elegantly decorated and furnished dining room. On the highly polished table stood a tall vase of orange, red and yellow tulips. I loved the light and shadow play from the window, reflected onto the table. This was a lovely quiet moment that I tried to capture in oil.
– CCSK
Tulips in Cornwall
Oil on Belgian Linen
23.5 in x 22.5 in
2018
Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger
as vaccines make travel foreseeable again
souvenirs from past travels
I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky;
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by….
John Masefield
Sea Fever
Hark now, hear the sailors cry
Smell the sea and feel the sky
Let your soul and spirit fly
Into the mystic.
Van Morrison
Into the Mystic
Those who live by the sea can hardly form a single thought
of which the sea would not be part.
Steven Tyler
lead singer of Aerosmith
Artist's Statement
We were on a large sailing boat in Annapolis. It was a large group of people, maybe 15, on this boat. I looked up at the giant mast feeling small and vulnerable. There were many signal flags and international marine flags on the main mast. Not all were recognizable, so I put in the US, Israeli, British, Italian and Brazilian along with several signal flags. We sailed out on the Atlantic, tho never far from harbor, at a frightening clip. It was exhilarating and beyond scary when the ship would lean and water would spray on us and the inside of the boat. So much more intense than sailing small sailboats and sunfish boats in college at Univ- Madison. Thought a lot about my dad who was in the navy in WWII. He walked like a sailor all his life. (I never had "my sea legs" quite like my dad)
– CCSK
Sea Flags in Annapolis
Oil on Canvas
36 in x 18 in
2018
Three Mushrooms on Golden Pond
Oil on Canvas
15 in x 27 in
2014
Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger
as vaccines make travel foreseeable again
souvenirs from past travels
Artist's Statement
Passover begins in two days, on the evening of March 27, 2021. The holiday marks the beginning of a people's travel that lasted 40 years. Of the many messages intwined in the Exodus story, one teaches of our human obligation to take care of "the other" – the stranger, the different. The Jewish people live because the baby Moses survived. The baby survived because of an Egyptian princess – Batyah – rescued, protected him and raised him – all in defiance of her father's orders that all first-born Jewish males be slain. She was perhaps the first "righteous Gentile" -- a term of honor given to non-Jews who have risked their lives to protect Jews from persecution and even annihilation. But Batyah's message is also universal, reminding all of us of our obligation, especially now, to protect and comfort anyone who faces bigotry – regardless of his or her politics or ours.
– CCSK
And you shall not mistreat a stranger, nor shall you oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Exodus 20:20
No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
John Donne
MEDITATION XVII
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions
"Egyptian Princess"
Oil on Canvas
28" x 22"
2013
Middle Eastern Market
Oil on Canvas
24" x 19"
2012
Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger
as vaccines make travel foreseeable again
souvenirs from past travels
My novels are set in a global space and pace. However, I have never visited most of the places.... I access ... global locations with my feet planted in front of my computer. I will use my internet connection to carefully enter the streets of a foreign city and find out how long it will take my main character to get from the airport to the city center – and if there are any shortcuts on the way. I wanted to do something new. The world is becoming a global village and we have to understand these different cultures. There is a Danish culture, an Israeli culture and so on.
So if you want to go to Denmark, then read the book.
Enock Maregesi
Tanzanian author
"In the tiny shops of quiet streets, there is a huge world: if there is
sincerity, sweetness and naturalness in a place, then there is a huge world there!"
Mehmet Murat ildan
contemporary Turkish playwright, novelist
La rue est une musée pour tous!
[The street is a museum for everyone!]
Hergé,
penname of Georges Prosper Remi
Belgian cartoonist best known for creating The Adventures of Tintin
Artists's Statement
I composed this still life from items purchased in the shuk (open-aired market) in Jerusalem. The influence of Sephardic Judaism and culture is strong in these items. Many similar influences appear in Arab cultures; "Sephardic" refers to Jews who migrated to then welcoming Arab countries when the Romans finally crushed a Jewish rebellion and expelled all Jews from Judea.
– CCSK
Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger
as vaccines make travel foreseeable again
souvenirs from past travels
The earth is rude, silent, incomprehensible at first, Nature is rude
and incomprehensible at first, Be not discouraged, keep on, there
are divine things well envelop'd, I swear to you there are divine
things more beautiful than words can tell.
Walt Whitman
Leaves of Grass
Nature alone is antique, and the oldest art a mushroom.
Thomas Carlyle
19th Century Scottish historian, essayist, satirist
I grew up in New Hampshire. My closest neighbor was a mile away. The deer and the raccoons were my friends. So I would spend time walking through the woods, looking for the most beautiful tropical thing that can survive the winter in the woods in New Hampshire.
Steven Tyler
lead singer of Aerosmith
Artist's Statement
"On Golden Pond", released in 1981, depicted the relationship between a loving aging wife and her loving, slightly more aging husband, and the very stormy interaction between the husband and the couple's daughter. Although the movie's "Golden Pond" was imaginary, the movie filmed on location on Squam Lake in New Hampshire. Some years ago, I attended a wedding on Church Island in the midst of Squam Lake. In the midst of the foliage surrounding the non-denominational chapel, I came upon the three fungi depicted here.
– CCSK
"Together in a Mudbath"
Oil on Linen
36 in x 36 in
2015
"China in a Box"
Oil on Canvas
19 in x 25 in
2017
Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of
Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger
as vaccines make travel foreseeable again
~ souvenirs from past travels ~
Surely, of all the wonders of the world, the horizon is the greatest.
– Freya Stark
Anglo-Italian explorer and travel writer
Dame of the British Empire
died in 1993 at the age of 101
If she knew how beautiful love is, she would already put it in a box, seal, and preserve it. So she could smell it whenever she wants.
– Kusumastuti, Denting Lara
As a kid, I never was the type to color inside the lines.
I used to wonder, why do lines even exist?
When these pictures are in my mind ripe for harvesting
And I can give the world something it's never seen before.
– Justin Wetch, Bending The Universe
We live in a world where strangers see your gifts and those
who know you can't get past the box you originally arrived in.
– Sanjo Jendayi
inspirational speaker, spoken word artist, Reiki practitioner
artist statement
While looking for art supplies during a visit to Beijing, I came across a number of beautiful boxes intended merely to hold a customer's purchase. Each box itself seemed to me a work of art. This painting depicts several of the boxes, together with a set of wood-handled paint brushes (and a silk scarf I bought on the same trip).
– CCSK
"Thai Lions"
Oil on Canvas
16 in x 16 in
2017
Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of
Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger
as vaccines make travel foreseeable again
~ souvenirs from past travels ~
I think you travel to search and you come back home to find yourself there.
– Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
One will not break through to the enemy with theory. Directness is most important, when in front of the lion's den.
– Rati Tsiteladze
film producer,
former world martial arts champion
Why is it that one can look at a lion or a planet
or an owl or at someone's finger as long as one pleases, but looking into the eyes of another person is, if prolonged past a second, a perilous affair?
– Walker Percy
American author
of novels infused with philosophy
The Cowardly Lion
Courage. What makes a King out of a slave? Courage.
What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage.
What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist or the dusky dusk?
What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage.
What makes the Sphinx the 7th Wonder? Courage.
What makes the dawn come up like THUNDER?! Courage.
What makes the Hottentot so hot?
What puts the "ape" in ape-ricot?
Whatta they got that I ain't got?
Dorothy, The Tin Man, and the Scarecrow
Courage!
The Cowardly Lion
You can say that again!
The Wizard of Oz
from the 1939 movie
based on L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
artist statement
This painting combines objects that originated
1500 miles apart. The two lions come from Thailand, a gift from my daughter. The globes come from China, a gift from a very kind law student in Beijing who showed me around her campus while my husband presented a paper. The lions, which are made of stone, have the center location, while the globes have the brighter colors. Lions sometimes inhabit the darkness.
– CCSK
Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of
Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger
as vaccines make travel foreseeable again
~ souvenirs from past travels ~
I think you travel to search and you come back home to find yourself there.
– Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Until the lion tells his side of the story,
the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.
Zimbabwean Proverb
The greatest fear in the world is of the opinions
of others. And the moment you are unafraid of the crowd you are no longer a sheep, you become a lion.
A great roar arises in your heart, the roar of freedom.
Osho, Courage: The Joy of Living Dangerously
Only in art will the lion lie down with the lamb,
and the rose grow without thorn.
Martin Amis
artist statement
In actuality, this lion is fewer than eight inches tall – it decorates one end of a wooden mantelpiece in a restaurant located in a very old house in Annapolis, Maryland. But in my imagination, and I hope in this painting, the lion is solitary, powerful, and even frightening.
– CCSK
"Annapolis Lion"
Oil on Canvas
16.5" x 13.25"
2016
Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of
Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger
as vaccines make travel foreseeable again
~ souvenirs from past travels ~
Surely, of all the wonders of the world, the horizon is the greatest.
– Freya Stark
Anglo-Italian explorer and travel writer
Dame of the British Empire
died in 1993 at the age of 101
I am a weak, ephemeral creature made of mud and dream. But I feel all the powers
of the universe whirling within me.
Nikos Kazantzakis
The Saviors of God (1923)
I don't trust people who don't love themselves and tell me,
"I love you." ...There is an African saying which is:
Be careful when a naked person offers you a shirt.
Maya Angelou
American poet, storyteller, activist
Unity, not uniformity must be our aim. We attain unity only through
variety. Differences must be integrated, not annihilated, not absorbed.
Mary Parker Follet
pioneer in the fields of organizational theory and organizational behavior
1868-1933
artist statement
The inspiration for this painting is my daughter's work in Panama. She went there alone to take a job at the Smithsonian for one year. To deal with her loneliness from friends and family back in the US, she went to a small spa which had a mud bath. There, in the mud bath, although all the people were strangers to each other, they began to relate, talk, laugh, and joke with one another. These people, of very different shapes, sizes, ethnic backgrounds, and beliefs, came together in the mud bath and became friends. My daughter's year, which began as lonely, was transformed through a connection in mud!
I wanted to capture in my painting this moment of individuals coming together.
– CCSK
"Globes of Light"
Oil on Canvas
38.5 x 28 in
2013
Private Collection
Reproductions Available
Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of
Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger
as vaccines make travel foreseeable again
~ souvenirs from past travels ~
Travel does what good novelists also do
to the life of everyday, placing it like a
picture in a frame or a gem in its setting,
so that the intrinsic qualities are made
more clear. Travel does this with the very
stuff that everyday life is made of, giving
to it the sharp contour and meaning of art.
– Dame Freya Stark
British travel writer, who died in 1993 at the age of 101;
many of her trips were to remote areas in Turkey and the Middle East
where few Europeans, particularly women, had traveled before.
There are two ways of spreading light:
to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.
– Edith Wharton
Darkness cannot drive out darkness;
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate;
only love can do that.
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
[I]n grief nothing 'stays put.' One keeps on emerging from a phase, but it always recurs.
Round and round. Everything repeats.
Am I going in circles,
or dare I hope I am on a spiral?
– C.S. Lewis
artist statement
This painting depicts the large,
ornate antechamber of a house of worship, and,
like the painting posted last week, is set in Turkey.
Globes of light, manifold in an ascending spiral,
draw the eye upward, along with one's thoughts
and perhaps also the spirit.
– CCSK
Art as an Oasis™
a series of occasional postings from
the art of Carrie Kleinberger
providing a temporary respite from both
mundane and monumental cares
words of wisdom from a diversity of others
for a season ordinarily full of celebrations and gatherings around food:
~ a collection of simple comestibles and potables ~
(this week – fruit with style)
Everyone knew you shouldn't go biting into fruit offered to you by magical creatures in the woods, even if you'd thought until just five minutes ago that such stories were, you know, only stories.
– Molly Ringle, The Goblins of Bellwater
The old order changeth, yielding place to new,
And God fulfills Himself in many ways, Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.
– Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Morte d'Arthur
You are the sunshine of my life, That's
why I'll always be around,
You are the apple of my eye, Forever
you'll stay in my heart.
– Stevie Wonder, You Are The Sunshine of My Life
For some stories, it's easy. The moral of
'The Three Bears,' for instance is "Never break into someone else's house." The moral of 'Snow White' is "Never eat apples." The moral of World War I is
"Never assassinate Archduke Ferdinand."
– Daniel Handler
artist statement
At the Jewish new year (in the fall), Jews
customarily share apples and honey to
offer and share hopes for a sweet new year.
This painting depicts a plate of apples
prepared for that purpose and shows
contrasting colors, shapes, and textures. Perhaps paradoxically, the center of the painting
is not an apple but rather a half grape atop an apple slice. The Jewish new year is already three months past, but nothing prevents us from offering apples, honey, and hopes of sweetness for the secular new year as well.
Best Wishes For A Happy Healthy New Year!!
– CCSK
"Apples For The New Year"
Oil on Linen
8 x 8 in
2019
"In a Parisian Market"
Oil on Canvas
15.5" x 27.5"
2008
Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of
Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger
as vaccines make travel foreseeable again
~ souvenirs from past travels ~
Travel does what good novelists also do
to the life of everyday, placing it like a
picture in a frame or a gem in its setting,
so that the intrinsic qualities are made
more clear. Travel does this with the very
stuff that everyday life is made of, giving
to it the sharp contour and meaning of art.
– Dame Freya Stark
British travel writer, who died in 1993 at the age of 101;
many of her trips were to remote areas in Turkey and the Middle East
where few Europeans, particularly women, had traveled before.
Paris is always a good idea.
Audrey Hepburn
(in the movie, Sabrina)
A walk about Paris will provide lessons in history, beauty, and in the point of Life.
Thomas Jefferson
In Paris they simply stared when I spoke in French;
I never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.
Mark Twain
We'll always have Paris.
Rick to Ilsa
Casablanca
artist statement
This painting is the epitome of "imaginative painting." The oranges, their basket, its labels – are from a Parisian market. The ducklings are from a sketch I made at the Minnesota State Fair.
–CCSK
"Curious Cat in a Carpet Shop"
Oil on Canvas
25.5" x 33.5"
2013
Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of
Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger
as vaccines make travel foreseeable again
~ souvenirs from past travels ~
Travel does what good novelists also do
to the life of everyday, placing it like a
picture in a frame or a gem in its setting,
so that the intrinsic qualities are made
more clear. Travel does this with the very
stuff that everyday life is made of, giving
to it the sharp contour and meaning of art.
– Dame Freya Stark
British travel writer, who died in 1993 at the age of 101;
many of her trips were to remote areas in Turkey and the Middle East
where few Europeans, particularly women, had traveled before.
The smallest feline is a masterpiece.
– Leonardo da Vinci
The most beautiful thing we can experience
is the mysterious. It is the source of all
true art and science.
– Albert Einstein, Living Philosophies
I started my own little carpet and upholstery cleaning business. I've done it for 20 years.
I live well.
Tommy Kirk
who as a child actor starred in
Old Yeller and Swiss Family Robinson
artist statement
One small, curious cat sitting inside a brown cabinet. A seemingly endless number of folded carpets in a shop in Turkey. I keep waiting
for the cat to move.
–CCSK