Caroline Havers- Art and Meaning

Salt Marsh Bloom
Mixed media on 120x120 cm (47x47 inches)
325 gsm gessoed Saunders Waterford watercolor paper

"What meaning does doing art have for you?"

I believe that art is giving meaning to my life, allowing me to be me
and thus making life worthwhile for me. It’s about capturing what is
beauty, in my eyes, and celebrating it. Passing it on.

I have a fascination with the phenomenon of nature, I want to
explore it.

The series of paintings “Cocktails at the Pond” is a good example
about where the fascination with an aspect of nature can lead to.
The inspiration for these works can be found on and around the
edge of water, kissing the earth or land and can be big or small.
When approaching bodies of water, enclosed or vast, set into the
land or mighty rivers on their way to oceans and seas. It is there
that it happens .. the magic. They can morph into mirrors reflecting
the skies, or gaps making interruptions in the landscape. They look
like mysterious portals, doorways to undiscovered worlds.

I am the first one to see it as it is at that very moment. A nano
second later it has changed already. Maybe a ripple from the wind,
the evaporation of a drop of water, a fleck of dust has landed on the
surface, specks of light found a new rhythm , a different dance. The
surrounding air changes the mood of the body of water, a bird flies
across and paints a disappearing shadow. There is enthusiasm and a
sense of first, I witnessed that very moment , through my very own
eyes, I am the only one.
I am the only witness to this moment of pureness of nature.

I am a painter and all I can do is capture this happening and celebrate
it. It is my enjoyment of the place I want to share through my paintings,
I believe that the source of my interest lies in early childhood experiences.
In discovering nature and fantasizing about it using it as an escape from
the harsh realities of life. Sitting on the edge of a body of water, observing
the never ending movements on their way, on their own journey of life,
enough room for metaphors.

To capture and celebrate, giving meaning to that very place. All that I
picked up on in that very spot feeds into my painting. What I hear and
smell, my thoughts and the sounds of that very moment, my knowledge
of culture and history, the applied metaphors, the atmosphere. A quest
for giving meaning to my own life.

To convey a thought, a smell or sound in a painting is difficult to do and
hard to explain. I believe that the enjoyment in the act of painting and
the medium of paint itself makes it all possible. It is the energy and
freedom in your very own mark making, the randomness of paint splatters
and splattering. Putting one glob of paint next to another. It is about
knowing your ingredients like a great chef does, the knowledge of how
they will react when mixed up or put next to each other. Developing
something unique, something brand new, a new taste ... like that very
unique moment on the edge of water and land.

Nature, as a source of inspiration, is vast and never ending, the ongoing
capture and celebration of it in my art is my task.
One of the works Caroline recently finished in her 'Taste of Summer series
Taste of Summer #11 (Go for It)
acrylics on 120x120 cm (47.25x47.25 inch)
gessoed 300gsm Saunders Waterford watercolor paper

Caroline's website is: http://www.carolinehavers.com/
blog: http://www.carolinepaintings.blogspot.com/
flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/carolinepaintings/
email: cbfpaintings@mac.com