Art of Cierra Blog

'Cerulean' by Cierra G. Rowe

Fire flies and glowing trees come to life, one summer night.
https://www.artofcierra.com/product/cerulean-abstract-expressionist-acrylic-on-canvas-panel-8x10-framed

A short while ago, I was invited to fulfill the role of Art Editor at Rawhead Journal. As a vigorous lover of both art and literature, this means a great deal to me. A very special thank you to John T. Leonard for reaching out to me with offering of this position and for all of the kind and generous words sent my way regarding the importance and significance of this role and why I am ''a truly invaluable member of the growing team''. Thank you so much.

https://rawheadjournal.org/about/

'Sun Dream' by Cierra G. Rowe

Dark trees, holding shades of green, stand beneath intense sun rays.
Deep pink skies, flecked by blue and black, stretch on in the distance.
https://www.artofcierra.com/product/sun-dream-abstract-expressionist-acrylic-on-canvas-panel-8x10-framed

Goddess Arts Mag Interview

A special thank you to Lena Snow (Founder), Jana Ebert and everyone at Goddess Arts Mag.

GAM: Please tell us something about your background and your art journey so far.

Cierra G. Rowe: My artistic background is ardent, rife with color and deeply personal. Having become absorbed by painting, my art journey is one of metamorphosis. I am an independent artist who began painting seriously during adolescence. Having no formal background in the arts, I gravitated towards painting naturally and am an autodidact. In terms of artistic direction, my passion is my north star so to speak.

GAM: Describe what a normal day looks like as an artist.

Cierra G. Rowe: Mornings commonly bring low temps. With the outdoors being a natural muse, I like to enjoy a hot chocolate and scratch out sketches of what I may or may not paint later on. I may also jot down poems, it all depends on the mood. If I am already in the middle of a painting, then it's likely that I'll be consumed by that until completion. I am a country girl at heart, having been raised in the south, so small comforts are important to me.

GAM: Can you tell us more about the theme in your art and your inspiration?

Cierra G. Rowe: Nature and emotion are constants for me, within my art. I feel most compelled to paint things that are of significance to me, through capturing them in my own way. Often this lends itself to be in the form of nature, scenes and abstract forms both interior and exterior. I find inspiration in the ''little things'' and personal moments.

GAM: How does your art life impact other parts of your life?

Cierra G. Rowe: I feel that the two are mutually exclusive — one in the same. Life imitates art and the muse of art is life. I think that art acts as a kind of antidote for the complexities that often accompany life.'Innocence Interrupted'

GAM: Tell us about your best experience in the art world so far.

Cierra G. Rowe: I am not sure that 'the art world' pertains to me. I don't mean this in an arrogant way. As an outsider, I don't know that I fit into what the art world wants, nor do I have any desire to. The concept of 'the art world', at its very core seems to be a coterie of influential names who decide what is and is not based on aesthetic, popular culture, monetary gain and other plagues of society. If this changes, then perhaps I could write out a better answer. The only world that is of any importance at all to me is this one Earth.

GAM: What practical advice can you give to fellow artists?

Cierra G. Rowe: I am hesitant to give any sort of advice, given that I am not in anyone else's shoes. I am also unsure if anyone actually wants my advice. But if anyone were to want my advice, I would say that the best thing that any given artist can do for themselves, regardless of chosen medium, is to stay true to who they are.

GAM: What are you working on at the moment and are there any upcoming events you would like to talk about?

Cierra G. Rowe: At the moment, I am painting plant life inspired by my home region, along with scenes from the area where I grew up.

crazy skies

A cup of milky hot tea, as heavy rain swooshes the trees and Harriet Wheeler sings about the summertime as I paint a crazy, chaotic sky. Thunderstorms all week, so says the weatherman.

Happy Father's Day

Currently baking my dad a diabetic cake for Father's Day. Happy Father's Day to all of you dads, papas, daddies, pa's and grandpas out there. I hope that each of you realize how special you are and how much of an impact you make each and every day just by being ''dad''.

This is a photo that I snapped a few years ago, while gathering fire wood with my father. It was a really nice day, late in the year.

'One Fine Day' by Cierra G. Rowe (and a brief word about my landscape paintings)

A planter of red begonias sit at the forefront of an unfolding summer day.

Behind them, cumulonimbus clouds linger near thick and tangled masses of trees.

https://www.artofcierra.com/product/one-fine-day-palette-knife-landscape-acrylic-on-canvas-panel-8x10-framed

Landscapes have their mysteries. I have photographed them often. Some, from a distance and other times closer. But before I picked up the camera, I travelled often as a child. In hindsight I was in awe of how different one region was from another and startled by how many places lingered just outside of what I was able to see from my tiny hometown. When you travel, the world seems to expand.

During that time, my idea of 'home' was primitive and naive. It was after adolescence that idea changed; becoming more emotional, more complex. 'Home' means many things to many different people. It's the place that you know, the place that surrounds you, the private space cushioned between self and nature, the sacred setting of time, season and familiar comforts.

I grew up in a very southern and rural area, so overtime nature became something of a confidant for me. To find inspiration for my landscapes, I often revisit my photography or go on nature walks and snap more photos of things that make an impression on me; Trees swaying in the wind before a heavy rain, a rainbow breathing life into the sky, a setting sun kissing freshly tilled land as day winds down to night. Nature is a huge part of my background; both artistically, and personally. When I paint, I like to capture whatever I am seeing in my own way, with colors that fit the emotional aspect of a scene (how it makes me feel). I translate that reverence for nature through hues in my palette that hold significance to me. I am also very much into texture and enjoy using thick paints with my palette knife to achieve this within my landscapes.

Painting From My Photography

https://www.youtube.com/@ArtofCierra

'Rainbow After the Storm' by Cierra G. Rowe

A late Spring double rainbow appears after a storm,
spreading across the sky behind a thicket of trees.
Rainbows are an incredibly beautiful natural phenomenon
that often appear around here, following a hard downpour of rain.
https://www.artofcierra.com/product/rainbow-after-the-storm-palette-knife-landscape-acrylic-on-canvas-panel-8x10-framed

dogs and trees

Me and one of our little ones enjoying the sunshine alittle bit. I look like a nutcase but she loves it when I make silly faces and cuddle her. Now that I think of it, so does my husband lol. She's about to jump on me in this photo, so I like this pic. It makes me smile. Also, I struggle with acne due to stress. So if there are all kinds of like, little dots on my face, it's from acne scars which suck but are normal. I can't wear makeup to cover it either because of allergies so... but the sunshine feels nice. And she doesn't care.

'Candy Sun' by Cierra G. Rowe

Lush greenery and thick masses of trees swim together under a pink sun, hanging in the sky on the first evening of summer. Sunsets in this region are often a treat, with many of them having intense colors or simply a pastel background holding a striking sun. (inspired by my photography).
https://www.artofcierra.com/product/candy-sun-palette-knife-landscape-acrylic-on-canvas-panel-8x10-framed

Candy Sun, Reference

Photo on bottom was taken by me of a beautiful pink sun that I saw. Upon staring at it, I immediately knew that I wanted to capture it. So, in my own way I did.

'Candy Sun'

Intimate Abstract Landscapes

A few days ago, in the later hours, while daylight was still visible, the sun was an absolutely gorgeous shade of pink. High in the sky, above dark green trees. It was a pink sun in an ashy blue sky with soft accents. I was completely in awe and couldn't stop staring. It was then that I decided I would really like to paint scenes from around here. By this I mean plant life in my home region, intimate landscapes and scenes from the area where I grew up that make an impression on me or that are important to me natively. I have not painted scenes from my surroundings since quitting oils a few years ago.

I take nature photos often. I took a photo of the sun that I mentioned on my phone and that is the photo shown on the screen in this pic. You can't really see how vivid it is or the impression of the colors, like at all due to camera resolution but it was really nice and very pink. Very grateful to have captured this photo to use as reference for the painting on the left which I am completing with palette knives, brush and heavy body acrylics.

Serving Guests

My mother invited me to a church event. Church is a healing place and reminds me of my Grandmother. It really does. Like, whenever I go there I feel really close to her because it meant alot to her. In the photo, I and other women are serving guests for a special event at church.

My grandmother and mother, since I was a little girl, served often on the Kitchen Committee. My grandmother was elected head of the Kitchen Committee before my mother and then my mother was elected as head of the Kitchen Committee afterwards. Sometimes my aunt even helped out. Seeing all three of them together was so nice. I really miss that. This committee is a group of women who organize, prepare and serve food and tend to guests when there is an event or ceremony.

As a little girl, I often remember how tired they were at the closing of an event and how my Grandmother didn't want to leave my mother to sort everything out. Instead she stayed even longer, working as a team with ma', to sort things out once guests went home.

This particular event was a celebration of women, so women from many parts of the region were there. This time, I was privileged to be part of a small group of women who helped serve. It wasn't the Kitchen Committee but something similar involving serving.

Serving, in any way, stems from gratitude and it was a privilege to greet so many amazing and beautiful women who I had not known before, along with seeing familiar faces from when I was a little girl. May is hard. It's easier to just like, pretend that it isn't May. That's how hard it is for me. So, I was a little nervous about going but my husband was encouraging and supportive. It was comforting. Everyone was so nice. Even that lady who knew that I didn't know how to use the Keurig to make her a cup of coffee.

I know that some people get weirded out when anyone mentions church online. Sometimes people tease or have something condescending to say about it. Online you're expected to be whoever people want you to be or whoever people have decided that you are and you're judged if you have any sort of tradition that isn't on par with popular culture. It's whatever though *shrug*. I just prefer to post things that matter to me. This church is a place of love, peace and healing. A place with people of all appearances. Going to a place that helps you shouldn't be condemned, but instead encouraged.

(I'm wearing the dark scarf)

The Connection Between Mental Health and Art, Interview with Kathryn Vercillo

Thank you to the amazing Kathryn Vercillo, author of Ghosts of Alcatraz, Ghosts of San Francisco, The Artist's Mind: The Creative Lives and Mental Health of Famous Artists and many others, for giving me the opportunity, through her compelling research, to open up about something that I ordinarily do not talk about: mental health. Mental Health is a term that is often stigmatized. Nonetheless, it remains a relevant topic of importance that applies to everyone. As an artist, it isn't often that I am given the chance to speak on this subject. Atleast not in this way. Everyone, at some time or another struggles or has struggled. Sometimes scars are left behind. Sometimes deep scars are left behind. And as a person, you wear them as best as you can. Or maybe you hide them because that is easier than confronting the pain. It doesn't mean that you are abnormal. If anything, it means that you are real. It does not change that it hurts. But it also does not define you. Kathryn's ingenious approach to connecting art and psychology isn't just brilliant but genuinely compassionate. Through giving the artist an opportunity to answer interview questions with both art and words, she is bridging the gap between mental health and art in a captivating way. As a person, sometimes it feels as though there is immense pressure to be the best version of yourself, even when you are struggling or to always present the best side of yourself, even when you are exhausted. Discussing mental health does not mean that you are isolated. Like art, it is a dialogue that needs everyone's voices to coalesce. Thank you so much, Kathryn for all that you do and for furthering the discussion of the connection between mental health and art. Read Part I and Part II of my interview here:

Part I (Visual Answers): https://createmefree.substack.com/p/interview-with-cierra-g-rowe-part

Part II: https://createmefree.substack.com/p/interview-with-painter-cierra-g-rowe

'Serendipity' by Cierra G. Rowe

Surreal skies linger overhead,
among thick and soft clouds, over an empty back road.

https://www.artofcierra.com/product/serendipity-acrylic-on-canvas-panel-8x10-framed

'Marshmallow Clouds' by Cierra G. Rowe

Puffy white clouds yawn and stretch in a dramatic gradient sky
above haybales sitting near a quiet country road.

https://www.artofcierra.com/product/marshmallow-clouds-acrylic-on-canvas-panel-8x10-framed

'Breath of Night' by Cierra G. Rowe

Night exhales in dramatic shades of blue,
while twinkling stars shine overhead like fireflies.
Headlights head somewhere down the road.
https://www.artofcierra.com/product/breath-of-night-acrylic-on-canvas-panel-8x10-framed

'Clear My Mind' by Cierra G. Rowe

Shedding all thought and worry on a rural road,
under a cool blue sky in early fall.
https://www.artofcierra.com/product/clear-my-mind-acrylic-on-canvas-panel-8x10-framed

Thank you❣️

A very heartfelt thank you to the American Diabetes Association for sending me this beautiful, framed display of the front cover, containing my art and my article page from issue 6. This is so nice and a very, very kind gesture that I wasn't expecting. It has been a long day and I really appreciate this, this made me smile.❣️

Diabetes Care Volume 48, Issue 6 Cover

It is a great honor and privilege to have my painting 'Blessed (Opal, Lapis Lazuli)' as the cover art for Volume 48, Issue 6 of Diabetes Care and furthermore to have an exclusive interview featured within its pages, along with being included in their The Art of Diabetes Care collection of artists and contributors. Diabetes Care is a journal published by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and is the leading clinical and clinical research journal for diabetes globally. As the daughter of someone with diabetes, whom I care for deeply, this is of absolute importance to me. I don't know that my words will do justice to how grateful I am. I would like to especially thank writer Benjamin Page from Washington, D.C. for taking the time to interview me over the phone. It was a pleasure to talk about my artistic background, my father, upbringing and reasons behind my art. I would also like to thank the American Diabetes Association and every single person who makes this amazing journal possible. Thank you so much. I have included relevant links below.

Diabetes Care Volume 48, Issue 6 : https://diabetesjournals.org/care/issue/48/6

About The Artist Cierra G. Rowe : https://diabetesjournals.org/care/article/48/6/861/158279/About-the-Artist-Cierra-G-Rowe

The Art of Diabetes Care : https://diabetesjournals.org/care/collection/3059/The-Art-of-Diabetes-Care

About the Artist: Cierra G. Rowe , Diabetes Care article

https://diabetesjournals.org/care/article/48/6/861/158279/About-the-Artist-Cierra-G-Rowe

'Composure' by Cierra G. Rowe

A rose floats easily in the dark, glowing with verve and poised through faith —
speaking to the notion that being brave and taking a leap of faith can, at times,
show you the light that is already within yourself.
The rose is, metaphorically, everyone. Anyone.
https://www.artofcierra.com/product/composure-acrylic-on-canvas-panel-8x10-framed

Happy Mother's Day

This day is for the amazing women who brought life into this world, took on the role of mom in unique ways and who sacrificed so much, all in the name of motherhood. To the moms, mums, ma's, mams and mamas of the world — Happy Mother's Day. You are loved. You are seen. You are appreciated. You are honored.

If your mother or mother figure has passed on and this day is hard for you, I am so sorry. Please stay strong and know that nothing outshines love and that their love is always near, keeping you warm. I know that no words can touch the pain but some how, some way love is the medicine. My heart goes out to you and you have my deepest sympathies.

May is hard. It's very difficult. I get shaken up whenever it comes 'round. But I celebrate my Grandmother in the only way that I know how on this day: by attending her church with my mother and wearing a big ole hat that I sewed a rose onto in her honor. My gran taught me how to sew and I wanted the hat to be special. She loved hats. This church is a very special place to me. When I go there I am often moved to tears and today was no different.

Today is Mother's Day but your mom is more than one day. She's more than nine months. She's worthy of being known as a person and of being appreciated for all of the things that she went through before she had you. That matters. As a daughter, a daughter-in-law, a niece, a sister, a granddaughter and a wife, Mother's Day is special. Sacred, even. Because no one would exist without their mothers, and their mother's mothers and their mother's mother's mothers and so on. I have so much respect for the women who have raised, embraced and adopted those who needed them in their life. For these things and more, you are celebrated.

Happy Mother's Day.

(photo is me and my mother at church. She wanted me to wear a dress and I was like ummmmm no. lol but my husband and I bought her a nice cake to enjoy.)

'Bourgeoisie' by Cierra G. Rowe

A chandelier hangs privately above a vase
and rug, in a room all but empty with green walls.
https://www.artofcierra.com/product/bourgeoisie-acrylic-on-canvas-panel-8x8-framed

''You don't post selfies.''

My preference for the aesthetic of black and white photography, as opposed to full color photos, is partly because of how stylish they appear, because I like for my paintings to be the focal point concerning what I post and because black and white photos are often not photos that people online feel inclined to take or use without consent.

I am told that I don't post many ''selfies''. This has been said by a few people. Recently I was again told this. It's laughable but I guess even something as silly as a statement like that can be thought-provoking. ''You don't post selfies'' ...and from what I've seen, when you do ''finally'' post a candid photo of yourself, it's referred to as ''a rare selfie''. It all sounds very ...I don't know, self-absorbed? It almost brings to mind Sir David Attenborough narrating the exquisite movements of some enigmatic creature, hidden behind the shadows of a remote jungle, rarely emerging from its lair within a high budget nature documentary. Lol. The phrase implies that an ''appearance'' is expected — that you are somehow meant to show off or be loud in being seen online and when you're not, you are somehow ''hiding'', even if you are not hiding. Is it curiosity? Or maybe people have become so accustomed to others posting intimate photos of every moment of every day, that it is now accepted as a social norm. ''You don't post selfies.'' Well, yes... that may technically be so but as an artist what good would that really do? Maybe I am dealing with a lot and don't necessarily feel compelled to take a bunch of ''selfies''- one after the next. Maybe I'm not the most confident cherry in the bush. Maybe on some level I'm aware of how superficial people can be and don't want my art or myself as an artist to be relegated to cosmetic preferences, projections and vapid fixations, based on how I appear to whomever. I am passionate about art. Painting is therapeutic and writing is an extension of that. So maybe those things are more important to me than trying to look ''appealing'' or appear however someone appears when they post a myriad of self-photos and personal previews across multiple platforms. If I post a photo, I'd prefer that it relate to my art somehow and be genuine. As an artist, this is important to me. So, with all of that being said, here is a photo taken earlier of me in the morning, while in the middle of doing some reading, drinking tea and drawing an outline for a new painting.