We Pulled The Sky Down

I’m very excited to post not only my first blog post, and introduction to the site, but also a note about my first collection – We Pulled the Sky Down. 

If you’ve been following along for a while now, you have come to see I enjoy painting with a calm, restful palette. I often choose colours and tones that bring a particular feeling, rather then a sense of place. 

With this collection, I considered landscape, but using that concept as a tie to emotional landscape. This past year in particular, the concept of time has been fascinating to me. It seemed to pass both slowly, and all too quick at once. 

I titled this collection ‘We Pulled the Sky Down’. I had been reading recently, and the concept of nothing being as it was before had been referred to as pulling the sky down. I thought that was really beautiful, and I loved the imagery of it! 

The things we had known are gone now. And with that leaves room for new. New perspectives, new approach to the days ahead. A new sense of appreciation for the smallest things that bring joy. Clarity and longing for both people, and places. 

These paintings are a nod to landscape, though not explicitly. They are a representation of moving past the landscapes of our lives, season through season. With the unrest of this last year, I felt they represent moving through seasons of challenge and change, and coming out new. We pulled the sky down, and we will be better for it. 

The title choices for this series were very intentional, Light and Darkness with It refers to the varying effects of nearly a year of isolation. Titles like From my Window are a little more explicit, thinking of times of lockdown, thinking of little hands waving at grandparents and other loved ones, just to see each other. 

My hope is that the work I create makes you feel something, whether you align with what I write, or you find meaning in a different way altogether. I can also appreciate that sometimes you may be drawn to a piece of art simply for beauty itself. 

Whatever it might be that brought you here, thank you for letting me share these pieces with you! 

Shan