Brooke Harker

"Tokyo Lights" comes from my most recent Cityscape series. I spent a summer in working Japan several years ago and have finally begun to give images from those days a new life on canvas.

Artist Statment: My paintings are inspired by different time periods in my life. Being witnesses to the experiences that shape me, strokes and images are like journal entries…some are made in an hour, while other paintings compile pieces over years. Recently I have come to understand that the process of painting feels like a meditation, and is my opportunity to connect to a power greater than myself.  It is said that the world becomes a better place when each person connects to their joy…so I paint to feel free and full of love. I believe that the key ingredient in art is love…there is no “fixing” that solves a composition in my eyes…it is adding love and energy that makes a piece work. Yet every work does not have to be a masterpiece. The experience of creating is the best part of the journey. I stand and paint in an outdoor studio that feels like a garden where fairies live. As a tree has grown to a shade canopy covering most of my patio, recent work takes flight on the other side of my fence in the sunshine. Passing neighbors and strangers stop to tell me about their lives, visit me with their dogs, and ask questions. I tend to meet random people when I sketch or paint on location too who have much to tell me. I take this as a compliment. Their stories become part of the artwork and entertain me. I believe that every work of art, if listened to, tells its own story…and continues on its own journey after it leaves my hands. My most recent works blend the energy from on location sketching with studio work on canvas utilizing drippy acrylic washes, Japanese ink and thick oil strokes made with a palette knife depicting abstractions of cityscapes. I am drawn to finding beauty in repetitive shapes of urban landscape and the life that passes through each frame. In past collections, I have fallen in love with bicycles, umbrellas, or making sense of colors layered colors upon each other like pieces of a quilted puzzle. Regardless of the form the paintings take, the intention remains the same…to be present in the moment the brush hits the canvas, learn along the way, and feel love.