ASCENT

ASCENT, Mixed media, Virginia Wieringa, 2014

This piece has been waiting for me to call it done. Today's the day. It reminds me of the tri-yearly journeys the Isrealites made to Jerusalem in the Old Testament.

A show at Beacon Hill

I'm pleased to display 10 of my paintings for 6 weeks at Beacon Hill, a Grand Rapids retirement community.

There goes summer!

I have been enjoying summer and I've enjoyed a vacation from my paint. I've been playing with fabric and quilting. Nothing to post yet, but it's fun to step into a different way of dealing with color and shape. I do it badly, and my seam ripper is well used, but it's stimulating to think things through mathematically and watch quilting tutorials. I have some ideas of things I'd like to paint, but right now the surfaces in my studio are covered with fabric.

2014 Advent Paintings

STAR OF WONDER, Virginia Wieringa, Acrylic 2014

STAR OF WONDER 2, Virginia Wieringa, Acrylic 2014

Emerging Star 2, Virginia Wieringa, Acrylic 2014

Emerging Star 3, Virginia Wieringa, Acrylic 2014

This series began in 1997 after an Advent sermon. These paintings were started last December of 2013. I have two Advent shows scheduled in churches in December 2014 and wanted to make sure these would be finished. Now on to other things...

I've 'watermarked' the image to prevent people just taking them and using them since they are my intellectual property. If you would like to pay and use a piece by permission, contact me at vwieringa@gmail.com and I can send you a high res JPEG without the writing.

MORNING SAIL

MORNING SAIL Virginia Wieringa, Mixed media 2014

I just delivered this summery painted tissue collage to Fernwood 1891 in Fennville. Maybe someone will buy it as a summer momento!

Celestial Timing #5


This piece has been coming across my table for more than a year. It gets changed a little every time. There's something I really like about it, and something that's really bugged me about it. It's called 'Celestial Timing #5' and I think it might be done.

Faraway Farm

Faraway Farm

This 18" x 36" Acrylic was done as a gift for the 50th anniversary of the people who live here. I enjoyed a tour of the horse ranch as I took photos for reference. Lovely people in a  lovely place. Congratulations!

(Oh, my favorite part is the horse along the left fence.)

F.A.R.M. exhibit in Lowell this summer

Allegan Fields 2- Acrylic, 2011, Virginia Wieringa

Rural Route 3- Acrylic, 2011, Virginia Wieringa

These two pieces will be included in the F.A.R.M. show at Lowell Arts http://www.lowellartsmi.org/#!farm-exhibition/c11tn this summer.

Festival 2014

These pieces were accepted into the regional competition Festival of the Arts 2014. They will hang at the UICA in Grand Rapids from the first weekend in June until August 17.

Barn Near Hamilton

Spaces Between 1

 

Spaces Between 2

Spaces Between 2 Mixed media, Virginia Wieringa

This was done over a former painting. The painting underneath presents a nice surface and informs the new composition.

Spaces Between 1

I love doing these collages with tissue paper painted with acrylics. It's like quiliting, but the seat of your pants. I don't usually preplan these. This is built mainly on the design concepts of variety and repetition. At a certain point, I photograph the piece and evaluate what it needs by looking at it on the computer and adding things in Photoshop.

THIN PLACES

This collage, THIN PLACES, was created over the winter. It incorporates music and windows and circles to imply the thin place between the sacred and the earthly.

Aerials

On Wednesday I'll be putting up a show of 14 aerial paintings at Hope Reformed Church in Grand Rapids. I've always loved the view from an airplane.

Sunflowers in Nancy's Vase

Sunflowers in Nancy's Vase

All framed and ready to go. This piece will be at Fernwood 1891, a new gallery in Fennville MI

Happy Dance!

HAPPY DANCE 2

HAPPY DANCE 3

HAPPY DANCE 4

HAPPY DANCE 5

HAPPY DANCE 6

During the dark days of winter, I played with bright colors and collage to ignore what was going on outside!

show at Trinity Methodist Church

On Saturday we put up 15 of my paintings in the lounge are of Trinity Methodist Church on Lake Drive in Grand Rapids. They will stay up until the end of July. The church is open during business hours during the week and of course on Sunday!

Cancer Awareness - BE

This piece was completed after a glancing blow by breast cancer. I incorporated some of the sticky things they put on my body during a scan. I incorporated music, because singing to myself during radiation kept me sane. Also, though I don't read music, I know a command to rest when I see one!

Fernwood 1891- a new opportunity

I have been invited to be a part of a new gallery in Fennville: Fernwood 1891 which will be opening in May!

https://www.facebook.com/Fernwood1891

Studio visits by appointment

I just got word that 89 ART scene in Fennville will be closing in February. It's been a great venue to share and sell my art, but as of February 15, we're done. Not enough artists to share the expenses.

Flat River Gallery and Framing is still rolling along, but I had decided to leave there in December. I was tired of the winter night drives and some of the other details. I'm still standing by that decision.

I guess my art will have to sell online and from my studio. If you're interested in seeing my work, contact me at (616)245-1565.

IN THY DARK STREETS SHINETH

IN THY DARK STREETS SHINETH.. Virginia Wieringa 2013

This is another part of the series ADVENT STARRY NIGHT that I've been exploring for years. This one is inside Bethelhem and based on the first verse of 'O Little Town of Bethlehem'

"O little town of Bethlehem
How still we see thee lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight"