Pastel Paradise

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She creates a world where gardens flourish with wild lady slipper orchids and swans glide upon tourmaline waters.

A fragrant breeze plays with her hair as she peacefully dreams .

“Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen.”
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Want to make some changes to your private world and create the beautiful life you deserve?

Here is how she does it:

  • Take a swan dive past the illusions of Present Time.

  • Fly through imagination’s window and then,

  • Dream your amazing future into being!

This painting was inspired by my idealistic viewpoint of how I will design my world. First of all, there are gardens as far as I can see. Flowers grow with the randomity of an English garden. In these gardens grow scented flowers of gardenias, honeysuckle, lilies, roses and angel trumpets. I can go on and on about gardens!

There are forests, swamps, oceans, mountains, waterfalls, streams, fruit & nut trees and a sun that never burns my skin. The weather is always be a pleasant 65-78 degrees and the rain is more of a heavy mist always followed by a rainbow.

Birds and friendly creatures enhance the landscape with their companionship and song. They live off air and water and never bite. Colorful parrots, cockatoos, peacocks, flamingos, cardinals, bluebirds, penguins and toucans live there. Dolphins, unicorns, Pegasus, lions, rhinos and hippopotamuses communicate with me. My paradise has pretty butterflies, dragonflies and metallic beetles.

And I have super powers such as the ability to fly, swim underwater like a mermaid as well as time-travel.

There’s a lot more to it than this….I’m saving for another time.

Pastel Paradise

Pastel Paradise







Starmaker

Star Maker-Valorie Vogel

He's painting by the water's edge. Grackle ( a sort of blackbird)  perches on his shoulder mimicking blue-violet sheen of thick, sexy hair.   Strong light illumines his skin as if lava flows in his veins.  Painterly strokes on a white jacket loosely crease across massive shoulders. Eyes look from beneath thick dark eyebrows as he paints a rocket flying into a nebula of stars.  The creative process generates intense passion.  He invents this universe from a piece of paper.  

Do you see the stars rising up off the painting?

The inspiration:  I was in Maui, Hawaii vacationing with girlfriends.  We came across an art show beneath a banyan tree that covered a whole block.  I snapped a photo of this beautiful man painting with a knife. He reminded me of Verlin, my youngest brother, whom I adore.

Wash Day

Wash Day-Valorie Vogel

For 22 years I had a private gallery of my own work in Sunny Days Plaza located in Homosassa, Florida.  I called it Valorie's Art Gallery at the suggestion of my friend, Gloria Pearson. Why didn't I think of that?  Gallery is the only word that rhymes with Valorie.

One day a stranger brought in a black and white vintage photo of coconut trees and grass huts of Bogota, Columbia, for me to paint.

To add interest to the painting it needs a "working woman".  I chose a woman hanging up her laundry.  My friend, Lee, modeled for her.  There's a red boat stashed alongside the clothesline pole at the water's edge.  Volcanic mountains pierce silvery aqua waters of the Pacific coast.

Coconut palm fronds splinter the turquoise-blue and rosy sky.  Long shadows cast across the communal yard.  Several huts crowned with golden grasses are illumined by the rising sun.  Purple cotton-candy clouds kiss the mountain-tops. 

The day is beginning, here, in Paradise.

 

Hummingbird Moth & Orchid

Hummingbird Moth & Orchid-Valorie Vogel

My favorite flowers are orchids. What I love about them is that there are so many different kinds. (Over 25,000 species in the world) That is a lot of uniqueness!  Some of these blossoms can be quite intricate and look like birds flying or dancing ladies in fancy dresses. 

In this painting I added a hummingbird moth. They look just like hummingbirds when they hover amongst the flowers, only smaller. 

This orchid is called a "cattleya labiata" and has a red lip and yellow eyes.

Scarf Dance

Scarf Dance-Valorie Vogel

A woman dressed in sleek, green dress dances with her cockatoo.  She's holding a sheer scarf, embellished with spiral designs.  She follows her passion, flowing through her as music pulses in her veins.  Sensuously she moves, scarf gliding through the air.

Vines hang along the window and orchids grow in her home.  A table of her things before her.  Make-up, lingerie and hand-blown glass perfume bottle.  Volcanic peaks with cascades into a pool of aquamarine outside her window.  Softly setting sunset sky. 

While vacationing in Egypt with girlfriends, a young man approaches us on the street.  Intrigued, we follow him in our cab to a perfumery.  I'm in heaven inhaling different scents, trying to choose only one for a special bottle I liked.  It is hand-crafted from clear glass with swirls and dots of aqua-green.  My perfume is a blend of jasmine and other floral oils.

Mirror Mirror

Mirror Mirror-Valorie Vogel

Daughter, Juliet, poses for this painting holding Grandma's antique hand-mirror. (I change her face)  It's made of pearly-orange plastic with designs on the back. The oval mirror has a beveled edge.

She is surrounded by purple-lipped cattleyas, the queen of orchids.  The volcano and mountain waterfalls gush silver ribbons into three crystal pools.  An orange tree invites us to eat of its succulence.   Sun sets in western sky, giving way to rising moon amidst twinkling stars.

Rainbow trout peers from the waters edge.  A vigilant cockatoo perches on the  overhanging orchid leaf, watching her every move.  She looks into the mirror, arranging her hair, sun casting reflections upon her shoulder. 

On a vacation with girlfriends in Maui, we drive the long curvy road to Hana where waterfalls fall into seven sacred pools.  We enjoy a picnic lunch on rocks overlooking the pools.  This Hawaiian Island, known for its emerald mountains and lush valleys is truly paradise. 

Cockatoos and Conch

9 Conch and Cockatoos-Valorie Vogel meme.jpg

In emerald-green satin, a young woman sits on a black sand beach with turquoise waves crashing nearby.  Pouring cool water from a conch shell onto her skin she washes the accumulation of dust from her soul.  A flower in her hair, she is surrounded by red-lipped orchids and cockatoos.  A soft setting sun is accompanied by a rising moon amidst glittering stars.

Memories of vacations with girlfriends in the islands of Hawaii fill this painting.  I am entranced by the Na Pali coastline. The helicopter ride gave me a thrill of a lifetime as we made our way up and over sharp ridges toward the ocean.  Waterfalls gush from between the peaks and we go in for a closer look.

Mermaid Tale

Mermaid Tale

Mermaid pulls a golden hair ornament from auburn tresses. She's dressed in a delicate transparent gown held with a golden ring and silken cord. I wonder what wondrous event she has returned from.

Cockatoo looks on from his perch above a turquoise pool surrounded with orchids.  The mood is serene in this magical setting.  Is this a Mermaid garden in a world between worlds?

Cockatoo Sunset

Cockatoo Sunset

My pet cockatoo's name was Peaches. She adored me.  She'd hang her head down so I could tickle her neck feathers. On the way home,  I took her into the grocery store perched on my shoulder. New surroundings scared her and she flew down the aisle all the way to the meat counter in the back of the store. I ran like the wind to get her. Her wings were just too pretty to cut.  I liked to see them all spread out. What a beautiful bird!