FLAME AND COAL

"Flame and Coal"

Intense concern would be an understatement in trying to describe the feelings generated as I continue doing this series of coal paintings.  I am motivated because the more I learn about the negative environmental impact of coal burning, mining, and transportation, the more I know that I need to use my art to bring attention to this serious pollution situation. While coal is the largest source of energy for the generation of electricity worldwide, it is also one of the largest sources of carbon dioxide releases.

“Flame and Coal” is the third in my large acrylic works on this subject.  It is painted on 300 lb.gessoed watercolor paper and is 39” wide by 52” high.

I am very grateful for the numerous resources and photos about coal that are easily obtainable online.  This “Flame and Coal” painting is based on a photo from theguardian.com found in the category of burning coal photos. 

Interestingly, after I had almost completed my painting, I found a version of the same photo on the cover of a recommended book entitled “The Silent Epidemic” by Dr. Alan Lockwood.  He simply states: “the dirty secret is coal kills”.
Please see more of my art at www.maryloudauray.com.  

Burning Coal Makes Me See Blue

Can you see the touches of blue among the pieces of burning coal in this painting?  Most of the reference photos I am studying for my coal series are replete with the colors of gray, black and orange.  However, I found one picture that had blue traces and found out in Wikipedia that “a blue-colored flame only emerges when the amount of soot decreases and the blue emissions from excited molecular radicals become dominant.”  This artist is learning some science! and I love the color blue.

Why am I doing a series of coal art pieces?  My artwork is my voice and there is a chance that these coal paintings and drawings might help create a visual reminder of the significant dangers inherent in the mining, cleaning, transportation and burning of coal.  For the near future at least, every time I post a blog, I will mention the impacts caused by using this type of fuel.

Please look through my website at www.maryloudauray.com to see more of my art.

HERSTORY

"Women's Rights" by Mary Lou Dauray, Watercolor, 22" x 15" 

HERSTORY

Menlo College in Atherton, California, put out a call for artists to enter an exhibition honoring the college and coinciding with its founding 85 years ago.   Artists had to be juried in and once chosen the artist was given a randomly assigned year between 1927, the year of Menlo’s founding,  and 2013 to respond in an artistic way to the cultural, historical or personal events of the specified year.  I was selected as one of the artists and given the year 1975.   After much research, I concluded that I would do a painting honoring WOMEN because in 1975 the first International Women’s Conference took place and, in addition,  WOMEN were depicted on the cover of TIME magazine’s 1975 Person of the Year!
The painting referenced a video still taken at that time.