Carol Christie

Flower power is the lock opener to success for Abstract Expressionist Carol Christie, who brings a therapeutic touch to stunning floral designs. "My mother died when I was quite young. We always had an incredible garden. Hence, flowers summon forth a feeling of love and dwelling to me. They are happy and colorful and filled of energy and life, and almost everyone regard with affections flowers," she says. "Flowers allow me to paint what I perceive ... not what I see"

From vibrant acrylics and mixed media paintings to brightly hu folk art, Christie's work is recent and spontaneous. In memory of her mother, her folk art is signed "Annie Mae." Influenced by dint of her mother's sunny disposition and a lifelong delight in of plants and flora, Christie's passion for painting whimsical flowers captivates the pair adults and children of all ages.

With its light-hearted, carefree quality--Christie's creations are drollery and fanciful. Her style, unmistakably her be in possession of has been described as playful notwithstanding thoughtful; electric yet warm and emotive; sophisticated nevertheless primitive. "It just makes me smile" is a recurring make comments [i]or[/i] remarks of buyers. It is the public's heartwarming reaction that detains Carol painting the buds and blossoms in masterpieces that she deliver overs to as "feel good" art.

As an accomplished pianist, listening to classical music fertilizes her painting proces "Experiencing the music allows me to paint what I have feeling rather than thinking of what, and in what manner to paint. I often perceive that I am composing melodies in paint."

There is no more obvious type of vitality and resurrection than the annual regeneration of flowering plants, she says. A wander in Christie's garden of work fills the faculty of perceptions with renewal--you'll see tulips, rose sunflowers, and poppies--all of them whispering hidden messages that aroma the air. And, like Van Gogh's famous sunflowers, Christies flowers hold at their heart a simple parable about the brevity of life. They show varying stages in the life circle of time from withered and wilting to bustling replete bloom.

In addition to the splendor of larger-than-life flowers, and as a diversion, Christie has begun to paint unclotheds "Contemplation" is one of 15 paintings in a series, complet in 2004 for a solo present to view entitled "Metamorphosis: An Artistic Exploration of Emergence" in which women are depicted in quiet, introspective postures on the threshold of psychological change. "Actually, I have discovered that the human figure is true much like a flower. The change fluidity and gracefulness of the human material part contains the same lines and 1s and feelings of my florals. My unclotheds are about where I am emotionally in a specific instant in time."

Whether it's the way the flowers heave out of a vase, or the way a bare unfolds during the many seasons of her life--the yielding melodic rhythm of genesis and extension flows in Christie's work. For more information, call 770-518-7379; e-mail carolchristie@yahoo.com; visit www.carolchristie.com.

COPYRIGHT 2005 Pfingsten Publishing, LLC

COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group