The World is Wide :: New Painting by Connecticut Artist

“The World is Wide”, a new post-impressionist dreamscape painting by Connecticut artist, Shannon Sorensen, inspired by Tolkien-esque fantastical landscapes that feel like a place we’ve known or seen. Within these worlds, great distances look close, new terrain and growth is revealed around every corner. Water flows and you’re not sure if you’re seeing fire or flowers.

Every time I am working on a painting, I reach a point where it needs to start taking shape and looking more finished. And some paintings progress quickly through this stage, while others, like this one, take a bit more time and work.

I started an 18x12” canvas painting on Monday, February 14, and it was full of warmth and felt very playful. The next day, I sat down again, and started adding some cooler tones, following the shapes and lines that I had established, and it felt good, but far from finished.

Over the next two days, I kept adding marks and layers, growing increasingly frustrated because I didn’t have any direction. At that point, I wanted to set it aside and give myself some time working on something new and fresh, because it was feeling overworked and stuck.

Evolution of a Painting

To store it in my small art space, I put a board up on my easel that another finished painting of the same dimension was still clipped to, and set the current piece under it while I figured out my storage solution.

I stepped back and just glanced at the two pieces lined up together on the board, blinked a couple times, and everything shifted.

One finished piece on top, displayed with this unfinished, overworked piece below it, it became clear to me that these two could and would work well together as a larger piece. The shapes started to make sense, and I was immediately excited to dig back into it again.

So here’s the finished piece, which I’ve called “The World is Wide”, inspired by Tolkien-esque fantastical landscapes that feel like a place we’ve known or seen. Within these worlds, great distances look close, new terrain and growth is revealed around every corner. Water flows and you’re not sure if you’re seeing fire or flowers.

The overall piece is 18” wide by 24” tall, two separate pieces of canvas attached and blended in the middle. I used acrylics, and both pieces of canvas were the last two pieces of recycled material that I had in my studio stash from another local artist.

Can you picture this in your home?

Prints and other home decor, lifestyle, stationary and accessories are available here.

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Thanks for visiting! I hope you enjoy seeing my art, learning about my process, and feel inspired to explore your own creativity!

Shannon Sorensen is a full-time painter working from her home studio in Newington, Connecticut. If you are interested in showing her art through your gallery, place of business, or event, please contact Shannon with your inquiry.

January Recap :: New Art and Paint With Me on YouTube

Why does January always feel like it stretches out forever? I know it’s not everyone’s favorite month, but I do always look forward to this time of year. I enjoy settling into a more quiet rhythm of life. It feels like a non-stop marathon of THINGS TO DO between the start of school in early September through the flurry of the holidays. Time stretches out a bit wider and further in front of us through January. It might make you feel a bit restless. I invite you to settle into it.

Find Your Sacred Flow

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I love that this is the card I pulled today. Finding your sacred flow can mean a lot of things . For me, it means finding my pace of creating art, my pace of living, and honoring it. My sacred flow is slower than it used to be. It’s more flexible and lighthearted. It’s more playful. It’s allowing the creativity to flow through me, through art, through my words, and trusting that I don’t have to know where I’m going at all times.

This means…

Trusting my intuition.

Growing more comfortable with saying no.

Committing to my art and making time to play, explore and evolve.

Enjoying being myself, as I am in any moment, be it serious, silly, thoughtful, sad, curious, introverted, extroverted, energetic, sleepy…

I’m done with fighting against the current of my soul. I am moving with it, embodying my whole self, and enjoying the ride.

January Recap

For a slower month, January was full of good things. It started with prepping and hanging 12 pieces of art at Balance Massage and Wellness Center here in Newington, CT. My art will be on display there through the end of March 2022.

Click through to see the virtual gallery:

I made four new pieces of art that I am in love with for many different reasons. I painted my first big painting, which is 24”x36”. I made a new digital artwork for the first time since last June. Then I painted two smaller pieces, two days in a row. Each piece woke up something new and exciting in me. I am finding my style and voice as an artist, which is an incredible feeling.

Click on each image to pop out and see bigger:

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I hit record last week on my 4th painting, and got a new process video up on YouTube! I was hoping to do this with my big painting, but I wasn’t well prepared for how long the painting would take and how to capture that scale of a project. So I’m taking baby steps back into the painting video world, instead of biting off more than I can chew at this point. I hope you give it a watch, subscribe, and hit the thumbs up! I plan to do these at least every other week going forward.

In addition to all of that, I am planning on a shop update later this week, as I have about 16 new pairs of painted earrings almost ready to go! So keep an eye out for the date and time, which I’ll share across my social feeds, and get ready to shop some wildly funky new pieces!

Thanks for catching up with me here! Wherever you are, I hope you have a beautiful week!

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Shannon Sorensen is a self-taught contemporary abstract expressionist painter based in Newington, Connecticut, specializing in vibrant artwork that evokes feelings of places you have seen in person or in dreams, inspired by music, poetry, memories and meditations. Fine art prints of select works are available through her art store, and shop other printed home goods and accessories at Pixels.com.

Follow more of Shannon’s day to day creative living on Instagram.

Check out painting and creative living videos on Youtube.

Dreamscape 2 :: Digital Abstract Expressionist Art

A theme for me this year (and probably forever, going forward) is creating these colorful dreamscapes to music. I have always been a music lover, from simple appreciation to growing up playing the flute, piano, guitar, singing…nothing has ever moved me quite like music. That is, until I started painting.

Music and painting together? I’m in heaven.

So, these dreamscapes are a glimpse into what heaven looks like in my mind. Bits and pieces of places I’ve been, sunsets I’ve witnessed, landscapes that make my heart ache, filtered through the lens of the magic and melody of whatever is playing in my ears.

I seek to paint with movement, like a dance between brush and surface. I use color to evoke the mood and energy. When it’s done, maybe it’ll take you somewhere. I invite you to stay a while and gaze. Zoom in close. Let your mind wander and your imagination frolick.

The Creative Process

For this, I pulled my color palette from my last dreamscape painting into Adobe Fresco on my iPad. I used an Apple Pencil and created lots of layers, played with texture brushes and erasers, trying to mimic how I’d work over a physical canvas. I haven’t created a digital piece since last June (“Cinque Terre”), so I’ve learned some things in that time about how I want to create.

From there, I pulled it into Photoshop to add some surface texture as the final step.

Can you picture this in your home?

Prints coming soon! Subscribe to my weekly emails to be notified when they’re available.

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Newington Connecticut Art Display

I am excited to share that 12 pieces of my art are on display, now through the end of March, at Balance Massage and Wellness Center here in Newington, CT.

It’s hard to put into words how it feels to see my art hung up like this - not stacked against various walls of my house - for the first time as a full time artist! I’m very proud of this work and hope you get a chance to go see it in person (and book a massage)!

In selecting which pieces to display, I considered the time of year (winter), and the setting (a wellness center that offers massage, reiki, yoga and other wellness services). I chose several pieces that I consider to be soothing in color and energy - smooth blues, seascapes, warm light. I also chose a couple pieces that are more colorful, cheerful and energetic, and hung them as the first pieces you see when you enter the space.

I hope you get a chance to see them in person while getting one of their wonderful services. In case you are not local, please enjoy this virtual gallery. This is the order you experience the works as you walk down the hall.

Many thanks to Cailin McBee at Balance for her help, and for this wonderful opportunity. She rotates local artists’ work into this space every couple months, which not only keep the space feeling free and interesting, but gives artists like me an opportunity to share our work in such a space and in front of fresh eyes. I’m very grateful.

Balance Massage and Wellness Center

135 Day St.

Newington, CT 06111

www.balancemassagect.com

Top: Marmalade Skies, Bottom: Tangerine Dream

Mountainside Serenity

For You Blue

Top: It Rained All Summer 2, Bottom: It Rained All Summer 1

Mykonos

Top: Duxbury Bay, Bottom: Abstract Seascape 1

Left: Touching Heaven, Top Right: Happy Little Boats, Bottom Right: Follow the Sun

Select pieces are for sale, contact me for pricing. Fine art prints are also for sale through my shop.

New Art :: Mama Gaia

Wild and tangled beauty. She nourishes, she nurtures, she shelters. She is home.

Mama Gaia is part of my 2021 series Of Salt and Pine, and was created digitally using Adobe Fresco and Apple Pencil.

Art prints available here.

I enjoy bouncing back and forth between traditional and digital mediums. They both have their benefits and challenges. My favorite thing about creating digitally is I can do it anywhere - in bed, on the couch, sitting in the car while my daughter has dance class.

Digital also allows me to create without worry of making mistakes. I can build out as many layer5s as I want, which gives me the freedom to make adjustments as I go that paint does not give me.

However, that risk is the thrill that painting gives me.

There is always a give and take to every creative medium.

One struggle I am learning I have with digital art is because of the ability to adjust so easily, it takes me longer to create digital pieces. This piece in particular took over a week to complete from start to finish, with several iterations throughout the process.

One thing I love about this piece is that I designed it to be displayed vertically, as shown in the image, or horizontally, as an abstract expressive landscape.

I’d love to know, friends - how does she make you feel?

Peaceful Sunset on the Beach :: New Art

This week we are in Massachusetts, having a quiet staycation with Sean's parents before we gear up for the new school year and back to who knows what...

We aren't doing a whole lot, and if I'm being honest, that’s my idea of a real vacation. It’s a break from planning and obligation and the usual day to day worries. We are very lucky to have access to beaches, so we go early in the morning, later in the afternoon, or on days it's cloudy and no one else wants to go to the beach.

It's easy to practice social distancing when you enjoy the beach at odd times!

One of my favorite things we’re doing tonight is getting subs and chips from the local sub shop, and bringing dinner to the beach to hang out and let the kids play while the sun gets low. Then we’ll swing by our favorite ice cream shop in the harbor on the way home!

My art is largely inspired by where I live and grew up. My hometown, as well as Sean’s, are nice beachy communities south of Boston. Any time we get to spend around here is time well spent. My favorite time of day is early mornings and the end of the day, when things are a bit quieter, calmer, and feel peaceful. Beach sunsets always take my breath away. Sunsets in general, but especially at the end of the day with the sound of waves and the sand turns golden pink.

I spent an afternoon making two new pieces, inspired by that sunset feeling. They’re inspired by the same photo, and I challenged myself to create two completely different styles of art using the same palette.

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“Meet Me at Twilight”

“Meet Me At Sunset”

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“It Was All A Dream”

“It Was All a Dream”

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I appreciate you checking out my work! I have art prints available here, and I also sell my art on Society6, where it gets printed on fun products like home decor, furniture and iPhone cases!