DEEP IMPACT

There is no stopping the impact of a life’s situation on an Artist and the type of artwork that is being created because of this action and reaction. Even now decades later, I was reminded of this cause and effect that happened to me. I had stopped painting because of my health problems with balance, letting my hands move over my work, touching the failures and successes of my design, allowing me to continue to create artwork. Thus, my conceptual sculpture series “Fish Reality” permitted me to move through my feelings of Grace “Liz” Payne murder and the pondering of my own life. Then after 9 years of limbo of no prosecution, Mr. Rogers is arrested, and now the trial. I sat in the first row allowed, so I could do my stare down at him every time he entered or left court. He wasn’t a stranger to Liz or me; we helped her move into the apartment he would come back too and end her life in. Crimes can have a “power” that can consume people long after the criminal has done his terrible activities, unless…. the person takes or fights to get that “power” back.  He avoided looking at me, time after time until a Friday lunch break, the gallery of people was down to my pregnant friend standing next to me in support. She had earlier explained to me how she wouldn’t be able to look at him, I understood. I was further down that path of healing because I had been able express my feelings through my artwork, the “Fish” series.  Well, the moment had come for our eye to eye stare down, no words to speak and express my feelings to him. I had to convey everything through my visual look on my face, in my eyes….. and he looked away and never looked at me again during his trial and conviction in court. In the end, I had my “power” back, but I walked out of that court a different person and Artist. I saw the world as a black and white one, with shadows everywhere. I went home and nothing but these drawings with no color just poured out of me, one after another. I was now into my next series before I could dust the charcoal from my face, through my tears. The “Losing Grace” series did produced some of my best work, won awards, hung in the best Art Museums in the area, each drawing drenched deeply in my private pain of grief.  For me it was a strange mix of praise, because I shared the tragedy through my artwork and my personal release of feelings that can bottleneck inside me if outlets or series, aren’t found to set them free in.

My letter....

"We gathered"

April 27, 2012

Dear Members of the Virginia Parole Board:

I am writing to ask you to deny Ricky DeWayne Rogers’ petition for discretionary parole. Further, I request that you defer his next discretionary parole hearing for three years. Ricky DeWayne Rogers (VDOC Offender #1100356) is the man who tortured, raped, and murdered my best friend, 28-year-old, Grace Elizabeth “Liz” Payne, on October 20, 1987.

The last night Liz was alive, she had come over to my house to eat dinner and play with my one month old son. We ate our favorite take out Chinese’s food, talked, watched Matlock on TV and laughed at the baby faces Stuart was making. We had such fun and were so happy that night. I have always felt so blessed that my family and I, was able to spend those last hours with her being joyful and that Liz knew she was loved, before she had to endure the horror, pain and then being  murdered that night by Mr. Rogers.

We meet and graduated from Menchville High School. We both drove blue VW Bugs and had the same nickname “Liz”.  We bonded over us being “teenage” girls yelling for our team to win during a basketball game and became best friends after that. Now 13 years later, we were still apart of each other’s lives. I could write chapters about all the things we did; how we supported each as we grew up and into adults, how she was my biggest art supporter, the comfort we gave to each other during each of our own medical problems, the tough times; like my brother’s John breaking his neck the day after our prom, her parent’s cancers and deaths… and now the birth of my son in 1987. We both thought we would grow old together, maybe as little old ladies, we would be sitting around the kitchen table drinking coffee and talking, laughing and crying too… over families, males, life, the sharing that comes over the years and how happy we were to have a lifelong friendship like we did. Mr. Rogers changed that dream for our future. What he could not ever change for me was the influence she gave me during the time we had together, her spirit was so strong, our time together so full of life, her gift to me as my friend, is as powerful today as it was when she was alive

Mr. Rogers chose to murder Liz and for that he should spend the rest of his life in jail.  As the members of the Parole Board, each of you are the only ones with the power now and the ability to keep him in jail. So, I beg you to make the correct decision to keep Mr. Rogers in jail, let us know and feel the justice that that a murderer who can commit the crimes he did, was convicted by a jury and received 3 life sentences plus 25. I also feel that Mr. Rogers should stay where he can be controlled and not around any females. I know Dale Pennell, sister of Liz, has written a very complete letter detailing Mr. Rogers’ crimes. Please, do not let his parole become a yearly subject that we, as people who still miss and dearly loved Liz, have to repeat over and over again. I feel it’s a terrible, cruel injustice that has happened because of the loopholes in the system and in our laws regarding victims of crimes.

Thank-you,

Elizabeth “Liz” Greene

"Losing Grace"   I did this series about my best friend, Grace "Liz" Payne death.

PLEASE HELP! Read, share, write.....

Email from Dale Pennell, sister of GRACE “LIZ” PAYNE

I am writing to request your help. On May 2, 2012 the Virginia Parole Board will begin the process of considering Ricky DeWayne Rogers’ request for discretionary parole. Would you please write a brief letter to the members of the Parole Board expressing your opposition to his request?

Ricky Rogers (VDOC Offender #1100356) is the man who raped, tortured, robbed, and murdered my 28-year-old sister, Grace Elizabeth Payne, on October 20, 1987. The jury that convicted Rogers in 1996 sentenced him to serve three consecutive life sentences plus 25 years.  Unfortunately, the Virginia Department of Corrections must abide by the parole guidelines that were in effect in 1987, the year Rogers committed these crimes.

Therefore, after serving only 16 years of his sentence, Rogers is now eligible for discretionary parole. This means that the Parole Board may use its judgment in granting/not granting his request. Further, Rogers may now request a parole hearing every year for the rest of his life. Fortunately, if the Parole Board denies his first request for parole, the Board may also, at its discretion, decide that Rogers may not request his next parole hearing for three years. This secondary decision is only possible if we make this request a part of our letters, as well.

A letter-writing campaign is the only way I can hope to influence the Board’s decisions. I have attached my own letter to this message because it provides background information that may assist you as you write your own. Your letter does not need to be long. Mine is long because the Victims Unit of the Department of Corrections advised me to include information about Rogers and the case against him that the Board would not otherwise have. The Victims Unit has also advised me that the Board will have no information about Liz unless I provide it. If you did not know my sister, reading my letter may help you appreciate the kind of person she was.

Following are suggested guidelines for composing your letter of parole opposition to the Board:

·        Write Rogers’ name and DOC Offender number at the top of your letter (Ricky DeWayne Rogers VDOC Offender #1100356)

·        Indicate your interest in the case (for example, concerned citizen, friend of _____, family member)

·        State your opposition to seeing Rogers paroled, and your reasons for opposing his release – it’s important that you justify the reason/s for your request

·        Include a request that, if the Board decides to deny Rogers’ petition at this time, it also defer for three years Roger’ next parole request

·        If you knew her, share information about Liz to help the Board see her as a vital human being whose life mattered to the community and those who knew her

The Board will make its decision two to four weeks after Rogers’ May 2, 2012 parole interview, so please write your letter of opposition as soon as possible. You may e-mail, fax, or mail it to Latasha Powell’s attention at the Victims Unit of the Virginia Department of Corrections using the transmission information below:

E-mail Address         latasha.powell@vadoc.virginia.gov.

                             (Subject line: Letter of Parole Opposition for DOC Offender #1100356

Fax Number             (804) 674-3081

Mailing address      Virginia Department of Corrections

                                 Victims Unit

 6900 Atmore Avenue, Richmond, VA 23225

                                  Attn: Latasha Powell

You should receive confirmation within about a week that your letter has been received. If you do not, please let me know. Your letter will be placed in Rogers’ parole file; then copies of all materials in that file will be mailed to each member of the Parole Board. Board members will individually vote to release/not release after reviewing the file’s materials. 

Thank you for taking time to read and consider my request. Please feel free to forward this message with its attachment to others who might support this effort. If you have questions, or if I can help you in any way, please contact me at (757) 303-7762 or at dppenn@wm.edu.

Sincerely,

Dale Pennell

Pure Love

For more than a week; I have been grinding away at painting this sky and along the way I figured out that, I do paint like I draw. If one brush stroke is good then one hundred is great…. even if it’s only the size of my thumb nail. There is no ending in me of stopping this habit of mine. I just keep layering one color  after another or  a different tone of the color…. over and over again, my building process is a slow one. Sometimes it feels like I am covering up what I just painted, and I did, but a minuscule sliver of light or dark is peeking though. I will see an arrangement of brush work that I find irresistible to my eye, but I want more from that space or  maybe; I just love making marks or lines, strokes…. I don’t care what it is called… I love doing it and can’t stop myself.  I stand back looking at my  budding creation and I believe this is why I pick time consuming subjects that will allow me to give into my craving, or love, of being in that highly satisfying creative mode that I acknowledge I have an addiction too!

Upside Down

So, I have been working on this sky in my latest painting and I was somewhat pleased with how it was developing, but felt the painting was missing something. That’s when I noticed my brush strokes…very tight…here I was heading in that direction again with this painting. Now that I am using color, I wanted to loosen my style up. My black/white drawings where done in a photo realism style, I had envision that direction because of the lack of color. On to the 2^nd something, I felt my clouds where earth bound, not truly high up, floating in my painted sky. After some thought, it occurs to me to flip the canvas over…as the whole perspective changes, I am in the sky! My tight, fixed strokes relaxing and switching over to an impressionist style, the clouds take flight…

Night to Day

I have a history of getting up before the light of day is here because I want to wittiness the last of the nights shadows gradually fading, then merging with the first  new rays of light. What an artistic privilege it is to live on the edge of the East Coast, in spite of the hurricanes, mostly because the light here is very unique. I am bias about it but,  I feel the light is exceptional,… the luminosity, the brilliance of the sun's light expands, grows in this space because of this enormous  moving mass of the ocean's water. The light is bouncing and jumping around on its waves  and the elements of water  transforms the light in extraordinary ways,... a much different light as it hits the land, buildings, vegetation and the terrible light pollution in our cities,... as the light is absorbed and then distorted. As an early riser, I get my extra dose of energy to paint, so no wonder I am working on a sky series now!



Old is new again.

The last time I did a large drawing was 4 years ago. I have spent the last several years making miniature drawings and a few watercolor paintings for exhibitions and selling. The “Balance” drawing series was around 4 x6 inches. Even “The Sketchbook Project” was small, the paintings were inside a 5 x 7 book. I am taking those small drawings and paintings to bigger size; 8 x 10 to 24 x 36 inches big. I am using acrylic paint on canvas, a familiar medium but one I taken a break from for…a decade plus. Now  I have to dig deep to remember what I used to do, acrylics dry fast, they need additives at times, blending colors to building layers, and all on a  much bigger scale. Currently I have 6 paintings relating to three different series that I am rotating on my easel depending on what I have mixed up on my tray. I wonder how many pieces I should paint on at one time?... Because the world globe that I saved from the garbage on the street, needs some gesso on it!

Learning Lessons?

There was a time when I felt it was important to just draw, paint or do conceptual sculptures, so I wouldn’t confuse people to the type of art I was creating. My thinking was, by limiting myself in some areas, I would be able to cultivate and focus on my technique in each medium.  As each series was produced, I would learn, grow through my mistakes and successes in the pieces. My overall style strengthen, my personal confidence increased in the art I was creating and exhibiting. Then that big tree fell on my studio/house…my world, my art world came crashing down and the long road of starting over begain. I didn’t worry about art at all, because I was surviving day to day. Several Lessons occurred to me through the years of recovery and the rebuilding process…I learned to embrace change, to shake things up and stop thinking no limits…it all could be for the better.

A Good Thing

I wish the days were 34 hours long, or that I had a couple more hands and arms because I have accumulated quite a bit of “art” that is swirling around inside my head. My thinking hat is expanding with each new task, and that is causing me to push my entire thinking of the types of artwork that I can produce. It was almost 2 years ago that I decided to shake up my creative thinking process by making different choices in my life. As a visual artist I started volunteering at The American Theatre, a performance theatre in Hampton, VA., this small step to be exposed to other artists….dancers, musicians, actors and their forms of artistic expressions, was truly a wise decision.  

Motivation

After I have finished one piece of artwork in a series I have consistently felt …. “Ok, Now to the next piece?” My mind has already jumped to designing my next creation, busy contemplating every highlight, shadow, line, and the tones, the positive and negative spaces in the composition. I am totally absorbed in this never-ending state of creating that my brain has been obsessed with. Repeating this process of pouring myself into my work, harnessing my artistic energy into a structured and at times a very meticulous style can leave me feeling drained mentally as well as physically.  This exhaustion  has become a fantastic amazing motivational feeling to me and to be honest, I think...ok, I know, I am addicted to this cycle of creating pieces of art to be in a series! 
 

What’s Their World?

Artists are in mostly in their own world when creating their works of art. I think that artist’s have many styles of art that they will produce over their lives. I have found that it can be about their world or it can be how they see their world.  It can be serious or ridiculous….a release or maybe a bleeding out of emotions. What I discovered in designing “along the line” is that I was mixing up, combining my own personal feelings, yet I wanted something of the viewer…..to engage people to look at the larger picture, this electric, linked world we live in. What would people do if it was gone or is this too much already? I am a thinker, sometimes too much; thankfully being an artist allows me to liberate all those thoughts about this world and myself.



Creative path

I thought I would push myself by taking this project one more step down this creative path….So here is the video of “along the line”…. part of The Sketchbook Project World Tour 2012. Several years ago I was persuaded to do some very small artwork for some art exhibitions, most pieces would fall in the 6x8 inch and under. I had been drawing on a large scale and was eager to see if I could switch to a miniature. As the years and drawings continued, I was able to produce some tiny pieces. The smallest was a little over 1x2 ½ inches. I believe that all those small drawings got me ready for this project. The book is like 5x7 inches, and all the paintings inside are 4x5 inches. I learned over theses decades to be open and take chances with the art I am producing. The path is open wide for those who want to travel down it……

Good-bye

I mailed my book off to The Sketchbook Project yesterday. It was a happy good-bye.  I am not sad to let my book go, because I do want others to touch it, read it and think about the issues in the book. I don’t know what others feel when they look up into the sky or if they do. I wonder do others see the sky or the poles, wires, cables, lights, all the interconnected strings of our modern world. My relationship and attitudes concerning electricity, cable, internet even home/house and my art, my world was updated by a tree falling down.   This unseen but seen power that is generated passed long and contained by wood, metal and rubber encased cables that is used and dependent on every day by people, the invisible world blood.  Long held feelings were discovered, worked through and let go or better said…. mailed off! So, off I am….. on to the next series. I started painting on 3 new canvases last night.  

Happy

I am in bliss and contented when I am thinking about and making art. It’s a feeling that has been with me since childhood. A feeling so familiar that I just need to put on the right music and my mind starts it’s inward path towards creativity…..I am happy….. Because through art I am able to work out my inner turmoil or I might be trying to explore my thoughts, maybe distracting my body and mind. As I fall deeper into this state of creating…..I can feel at peace with myself. I feel that I am fulfilling my purpose. I am appreciating my gift. I find that the more that I drive myself into creating and expanding my art the more that I am able to visualize the next exciting step of making art and being happy.



Merging thoughts

I have found that through making art series that I have been able to explore my own thinking about subjects that I may have dropped because I only did a single piece. I enjoy the challenge a series creates, each work has to stand on its own, yet link to its sister pieces and then the series needs to stand as a whole piece of work….. As if they are not separated by space, wall or page.  The concept of the series needs to be investigated from a diverse but cohesive, interconnected progression of artwork that tells the story….or what lingers in the mind of an artist.

The Art of Transformation

 Transformation can be a quick process or one that last years to decades…that’s the beauty of transforming one’s body, mind, house, life or even art. Knowing there is going to be a development that hopefully shows growth, a clearer vision or a new take on creating. Years back I just started cranking out theses black and white sketches that lead me to the drawing the series “Grace” and a few other series…… I do love to draw, the marks, lines and shadows but even as much as I adore drawing, I felt I needed to expand myself to painting and color. In many ways this sketchbook and the paintings that will follow have been brewing in my head for years.  I didn’t know at first where my “art” was headed after the hurricane in 2003. I was able to see growth in destruction of my home and my studio..... everything was bound to be affected by this huge tree and this situation. I knew..... how I would be living and what type of art I was making would be revamped because I would be a different person after all the rebuilding was done. I would be transform, as well as my artwork.

After the hurricane, I thought..."this is going to take along time" and it did!!

The Best

The best thing about making art is that it’s a path of self discovery. Whether it’s through the use of color, composition, subject matter, style or which medium of choice…. So many avenues an artist can travel their road of creativity that lurks in their mind.  I went with  bright colors  and “conceptual sculpture” for my “Fish” series, then black/white  drawing  for my “River” series …next color pencil for the “Balance” series  and now I am back at painting…for “along the line” and  “Balance #2” series. I am having those fantastic internal feelings when my mind has sketched out the art. Now it’s up to my hands to get working…..this road has has hills, valleys and mountains but I did make this choice to travel.

Do you overlook or look over things?

I ask the question because one point of view is to not see the object and the other view is to examine the object…opposite directions to how your eyes and mind will appreciate or sense the world. I ponder myself….which point of view is better than the other? Or is it best to break it down to each element, each moment in time, each component separated and valued to it's impact and consequence on our lives. 

"do you overlook
 the wires, the poles
to see the
sky?"

Mixing it up!

Making art expands when an artist starts mixing up their mediums.

"What do you see when you look up?"

 In planning out this sketchbook I laid out which pages to paint and what sizes they would be first. I would do the main page then I used the left over paint on the opposite page. I begin to think of phases that connected to the theme of the book for the extra paint page. I noticed that even my statements or questions had a certain flow as I arranged them with their partnered visual page.

Words mixed with mix mediums….

I am on cloud nine making art!

Seeing more..

Look. Glance. See. Watch. Gaze. Stare. Peep. Glimpse. Spot. Observe. Notice. Perceive.
How do you go about seeing objects in your world?
There are numerous words for the way we use our eyes towards the world. Then after our eyes do their job it’s up to our brain. Understand. Appreciate. Comprehend. Know. Realize. Distinguish.Value. Recognize. Perception. Discernment.
How does your brain work ?

"the more i look
the more i see"

 

Along the line.....

"do you look at the sky?"

“Along the line”…I do like this phrase. I was told by a fellow artist, Carol Anne McErlean, about The Sketchbook Project, just Google it for more information. I had been taking photos of the sky, mostly when I am driving. I noticed I was focusing on the light in and around the clouds, the colors that change in seconds......then there are these poles, wires, lights that would cause me to find the right angle to get them out of the way…. more shots, more time, more work! Then after the downloading of the photos, I noticed that the ones I did like the best had some sort of thing in the photo. So, as I was looking through the subjects that I could pick from for my sketchbook, "along the line" jumped out at me. I like that this title has so many meanings. The Sketchbook will mean something different to everyone, even me…and along the line I am thinking… what’s next?

Do you sketch it out first?



"along the line" by liz greene

Most of the time when I am working I don't  (or didn't) sketch things out first.The planning takes place in my mind and then I would go make something. When I was young, I didn't want to waste my paper, crayons or maybe it was my time....or was it my own expectations that I was going to create something with my hands and it was going to be good. I had thought about the design, layout, colors...now to the fun part. Over the years I have admired artists who take the time to sketch their pieces out. I see that value of those sketches in a way now that  I had rushed through during my youth. The planning process helps you see your mistakes or your better choices. I am learning to sketch out new pieces of artwork.....& everything else!

Small steps count



The Sketchbook Project

  Sometimes the steps you take in life are big ones, like having a baby. Sometimes the steps are important ones, like buying a car..... but after having bought and sold several cars over the years, it becomes a special step yet it's a familiar step. Creating art has steps...big, familiar, new, old, exciting, scary, repeating, bold, intimidating, leaps of faith....that happens when an artist minds starts  imagining the next piece of work. I have found out that even the small steps count, maybe they are so important because they are the first ones that can lead to those much bigger steps...... that I want to take.

Creating art is fun, creating art is work!

Creating art is fun, as a kid you just do it all the time and you don't care about what happens to the end piece. Maybe you give it to your mom or teacher to hang up. Maybe the piece goes in a folder to be graded by the art teacher. Maybe you are the only one to see it....then you start creating another piece with out regard to what are you going to do with "it"....it's all about "making, creating, building, drawing, painting, gluing, carving, weaving" (a flood of materials is running through my mind) It's a beautiful time of being an artist, being young, just wanting to make  something.
Then you grow up, you make art but then that after thought of what do you do with it becomes...Marketing, Selling.


tower of power



The winds are strong.....

"Orange sky after the rain"

I love to draw and several years ago I did nothing else but black/grays/white drawings. I felt the medium and lack of color was a perfect fit for me to express myself. I had been doing conceptual sculpture before that so going to what I thought was a simple, straight forward medium would make my life simple, controllable and I could make my mark in this art market. I am now ready to stretch my artist wings and ride on the creative winds that are swirling through me. Painting, mix media….no limits. Just fly….the winds are strong.  

The need to create......

I have been an artist all my life. It's been a gift to me, a medium that allows me to express myself on such personal level about any feeling I am having and a place to get it out. I have often created when I was not feeling good....getting lost in creating to forget being in pain and this last year with all these surgeries, like now,   thank-you for my gift

Michael is a American!

This is a drawing I did for Michael to celebrate him becoming a U.S. citizen. It's a small piece, maybe 5x5. I like being able to use words in the drawing, and breaking up the background in sections with different patterns.

Nigel the ginger cat.

Nigel was a ginger stray cat. He was begging for love one night at the American Theatre....looking in the windows, dancing around people feet & legs as they stood in line at the box office.  He is a bold, young playful cat that loves his new home. I had quite a bit of fun doing this for Michael for the holidays. I have done these tiny drawing portraits pieces before as gifts. This is my first painting in this style.