Sisters

2015

18" X 12"

Oil on Panel

SOLD

Zen Master of Muses…John O’Hern, blessed me with a reference to this painting in an
article he wrote for American Art Collector Magazine, which was published in their
February Issue 2017. Here is an excerpt from the blog post which I wrote about the painting, and the man…

This falls under Ted’s favorite category of “sorta fun”.

A while back, one of my master muses, John O’Hern, sent a query asking about the painting Sisters.
He was writing an article about florals, and botanicals, and Albrecht Durer, and naturally…thought of moi. (She wrote with a grin)

The article came out in this month’s American Art Collector Magazine, which Pat brought in from the mailbox last night.

As I read through and found it today, I see that an image of Sisters did not make the editorial cut.
I can see why as the others make a wonderful bouquet of floral still lifes,
and my little garden painting is of the more humble vegetable variety.

But, here’s the fun part.
What John wrote about the painting Sisters is…in his most inimitably magical way…delightful.

And I quote,
“Heather Neill observes a helpful symbiotic relationship in her own garden between her tomato plants and a volunteer scarlet runner bean that self-seeded the year before. Sisters refers to the ancient practice of “sistering” or “growing companion plants to, in this case, literally, support one another”, she explains. “Native Americans would plant corn to support the beans, which would shade lower growing lettuces…all in the same patch.”

The subjects are shown after dusk plucked out of the dark by a porch light.
Neill’s saturated color and hyperreal painting along with the dramatic light
suggest a more sinister role for the vine when the light is extinguised.”

Only John would imagine such sinister designs,
plucked after dusk by a porch light.

Brilliant, and ta.