Marney Ward and the Tangible Presence of Light
"Marney Ward paints large, glowing floral watercolours, seeking to capture the spirit of the flower in compositions ranging from delicately patterned impressions to bold back-lit close-ups.
Flowers have always been a source of joy and inspiration for Marney. After studying floral watercolours with artists Caren Heine, Ann Hunter, Elizabeth Kincaid and others, she went on to develop her own unique style: large, vibrant, back-lit close-ups that reveal the spiritual essence of the flowers she paints and beyond them, her own spiritual interconnectedness with the natural world. For Marney, watercolour is the perfect medium, with its spontaneous flowing quality and its clear, transparent colour that allows the light of the paper to glow through. In her recent work, she plays with the unique edges and textures that are available only in watercolour. But the predominant feature of Marney’s work remains the tangible presence of light."
Light within the light
Sacred scriptures need not be in words. They can be in watercolor paintings. What makes them sacred is that they reveal a luminosity in the depths of things, a freshness deep down, that is given personality by the colors and shapes. Of course, sometimes, in the nitty gritty of our daily lives, we ourselves do not have eyes to see. We are accustomed to looking at the world in a flat way, as if its surfaces were opaque. As if there is nothing is reaching out to us, and toward us, with benevolent light. As if there is nothing inside us already carrying that light, despite our anxieties and fears, our embarrassment and pain. As if there is no Light in the image of which we are made. Thus we need artists to help us find the Light, so that we, too, might be its vessels in our daily lives, sharing our own scraps of light with healing hands. Marney Ward hears a calling to be that kind of artist. Her watercolor paintings invite us to find the freshness within our own lives and reach out, with helping hands, to bring joy to the world, each in our own way. We, too, can be illuminated by, and illuminators of, the Light. The Light can be our kindness, our delight in beauty, our love of life, our courage to endure, our willingness to re-invent ourselves with every new season. We, too, can be watercolor paintings.
-- Jay McDaniel (editor of Open Horizons)
-- Jay McDaniel (editor of Open Horizons)