Category: Collection: the Natural World

Why Do Flowers Bother? (c) Marika Reinke 2017

Why Do Flowers Bother?

Sunsets and Songs (c) Marika Reinke

Sunsets and Songs

Sunsets and Songs (c) Marika Reinke
Sunsets and Songs (c) Marika Reinke

Here, the sky sips sangria
telling stories in melodies and songs.
We listen with heart, skin, heat
and dance
with her
again.

Acrylic on Canvas 36” x 36”

$950 USD

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Flowers and Water

flower-and-water
Flowers and Water (c) Marika Reinke 2016

A portrait of the rain

Cannot escape a flower.

Acrylic  16” x 12”

$200

-Available

Currently installed at Sage Brush Art Studio, Brasilito Costa Rica

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Still Motion by Marika Reinke 4' x 3' Acrylic Commission

Still Motion

Still Motion
Still Motion (c) Marika Reinke 2016

Still Motion

Ever present movement and complete stillness.

Acrylic on Canvas

36″ x 48″

Marika Reinke


This custom painting was a commission and is installed at a home in Las Catalinas resort at Playa Danta, Costa Rica. 

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Storm

Storm (c) Marika Reinke 2015
Storm (c) Marika Reinke 2015

A Story:

There are  incredible storms in Costa Rica, but none match the one I’ve lately tended to inside. A little over two months ago, I left my burgeoning art career in Seattle to move to rural Costa Rica.  And my identity was lifted in the air and then…what?

The storm and dissonance are my path now.  I have relearned firsthand that the moments when identity is challenged are powerfully formative, if uncomfortable.

Almost nightly,  I watch lightning, matched by rainy sheets, occasional torrents and echoing thunder. And I breathe deep, bracing myself with who I am and want to be; an artist, a writer, a mom, a wife, an entrepreneur, strong, starting over and learning to enjoy the stormy ride.

Watercolor 24″ x 18″

To Buy

Original $400

Prints will be available soon.

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The Wise Little Sloth

The Wise Little Sloth (c) Marika Reinke
The Wise Little Sloth (c) Marika Reinke

Description

This Wise Little Sloth has taught me to follow my path, play in the soulful, pay attention to signs, have faith in my craft and always stay true to myself.  This moment is almost always joyful.  Leave space for joy, there is no use forcing it, it will come.

Watercolor 12″ x 12″

Original is Sold (Commission)

To Buy

Prints are available as low as $17 on Marika’s Fine Art America Page Here.

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Mantas: A Love Story (c) Marika Reinke 2015

Mantas: A Love Story

Mantas: A Love Story (c) Marika Reinke 2015
Mantas: A Love Story (c) Marika Reinke 2015

There is no hope in understanding a marriage.  It is bound by love and faith, not analysis.  There is love in one another and more importantly love in what they create together. This home, this family, this feeling, this conversation, this intimacy, this strength, the gift giving, forgiveness and courage they form together and this friendship only exists in this marriage.  It is incomprehensible… and a wondrous fact.

Watercolor 28″ x 27″

More of the Manta Story: A Story of Color and Life

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Mantas: A Love Story (c) Marika Reinke 2015

Working with Color & Life

This commission is taking me a long time to finish.  I make three decisions  and then I’m exhausted, and the paint needs to dry.  I walk away.

As I work, I think about my client.  She has an irreversible and deadly disease.  This painting is for her life partner as a parting gift, in memory of their life together.  Their best memories are in the water, the mantas are metaphors and symbols.

Thrilling, intimate, scary, flowing, connecting …. fill in the rest here.

We all know life is finite.  But it is another thing to know death is looming. It is another thing to be touched intimately by it and be asked to partake in the goodbyes.

I love her (my client). Every decision is a worth a million more than the thought that goes into it. I want to have all the time in the world to finish this painting.  I want anything to slow down goodbyes.  I never want this painting done so she can never give it to him. So she will never die.

So I slow down. And reflect on color and life.

The Birth story: color and life

Of the images she gave me, there were sea turtles, mantas, sea life, water, underwater corral.  Of the words she gave me, mantas, moving together, light and colors, love and the stories she has shared with me about them.

This image burned for me.  This is sketched and painted on 9 x 12″.

just mantas number 1

Which eventually led to a rough idea and agreement.

Suzy-editted-embrace

I changed the mantas as little as I worked on the larger image which is  about 26″ x 26″.  They are purple; regal and spiritual.  They come together in a more fluid shape.  They merge so one is undecipherable from the other.  The energize each other at the connection point.

just mantas

And then I add background color.  I also altered the color scheme a little, adding deeper blues and  simplifying.  The challenge is to keep the eye on the mantas while creating motion, energy, support and a story with color.  A vivid purple draws the eye in just the right places, there should be color and contrast where meaning occurs.

mantas with color

The aquamarine frames the mantas.  Dark colors keep the eye inward.  The yellow draws the eyes to it and the mantas.  Purple and yellow are complimentary colors, they glow next to each other.

mantas with background

Now I’m happy with the basic composition which is different than the first sketch.  I took what worked from it and added and subtracted.  Then, I return to the blues and yellows, softening, shading, darkening and adding depth.

more background

This week, I came back to the mantas with more layers of colors and shading.  The rewards for patience pay back huge in vibrancy and motion. The mantas are deeper purple now, the result is higher contrast which builds more energy and richness to the painting.

What is left?

I need to keep working the shading in the two mantas, their upper bodies are still a bit ill-defined and the background colors still need a few more layers for richness and just the right frame.

Mantas: A Love Story (c) Marika Reinke 2015
Mantas: A Love Story (c) Marika Reinke 2015 #WIP

She loves it.  Believe me, she would tell me if she didn’t. I’m relieved and joyful. This project aches, but I’m so pleased that this painting is doing what she wants and needs it to do.

I could work on this forever.

She might have to tell me when to stop.

Unusual Weather (c) Marika Reinke 2015

Unusual Weather (c) Marika Reinke

Unusual Weather (c) Marika Reinke 2015
Unusual Weather (c) Marika Reinke 2015

The specter of climate change is an underlying disquiet.  What unusual weather we are having is small talk, a subtle code and acknowledgement.  There is change emerging around a corner too sharp to see around.

The question is not if it is a hoax or who caused it.  The real questions: What will humans do about the impending change? Can we adapt? Will we fail or thrive as a species?

I do not know.

The Earth is healing. She’ll be fine. She may throw us off like unwelcome parasites to make room for her rebirth.  But this world will re-emerge, glowing, growing and beautiful.

Watercolor 21″ x 30″

BUY HERE

 Buy Unusual Weather Here

The Original Unusual Weather is available for sale: $800
21″ x 30″ Limited Edition Prints: $95
5″ x 7″ Cards are available to order.  Pack of 10: $35.

Contact me directly for smaller prints and I can quote them for you.

CONTACT ME

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Draw a Blank

Truth: An artist comprehends no separation between art and life.

A Healing Place 2 story card 1

But recently I learned that I subconsciously regard aspects of my art as separate.

I have told myself this:  Writing is not painting.  But writing is most definitely art.

In this way…

When I decided to take the leap of faith and become a painter, I let go of others’ judgment and my worry. You know, that little voice that wants to please and seeks praise?  I threw that out the window.  It does not help the artistic process.  Truth: I have an unique artistic voice that is not for everyone and that is the nature of art.

My paintings touch people and some people profoundly.  I focus on this.  When I paint for someone or some theme, I do my best to put their skin on and see the world from their perspective.  The painting should be profound for that person or theme.  If it touches more people in the process, that is a lovely side effect.

Paintings are an expression that creates meaning, relationships, and ultimately expand our understanding of life.  Mine will do that for a few or many.  But not all.  Ok.  I accept this and let go of worry.

When I handed “A Healing Place 2” off to my client, she stood in her living room and announced that she was going to read the story card aloud to her daughter and husband.

A Healing Place 2 In route (c) Marika Reinke
A Healing Place 2 In route (c) Marika Reinke

“Ack!” I choked and covered my face. I had a mini-panic attack right there.  I wanted to run.

It was a Moment of Truth.  A Teachable Moment.

Here on this blog and in all my marketing attempts I have exposed (one aspect of) my artistic soul in a gallery of public paintings and processes. I have no panic attacks. It is a struggle but ultimately I trust myself here.

But in that moment I could not listen to someone pronounce my words. I wring heartache into writing. I did not want to hear it and be faced with a critique.

Some damage, huh?

Writing is a cracked and bleeding medium for me.  This is a revelation.  I have been manipulating words and hiding behind the painting, a coward. Writing and I have a long history, longer than painting, but before I knew how to protect myself from all the real, imagined and self critics.  It is my first love saturated with juvenile expectations and painful miscomprehensions. It is riddled. A puzzle of meaning and pain.

I need to get over it. If there is something my painting can teach my writing, this is it.

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