Where does the city meet Mother Nature? In art, of course!

"Chicago" Tabetha Landt Hastings 30"x40"

Sometimes I feel torn between my love for cities, and my love nature. Between the grandeur of tall buildings mixed with the urban vibe, and the serene beauty of the forest. My art tends to be either/or... I've got my nature paintings (which mainly tend to be trees) and my city buildings.

Well, a few days ago I decided to let those worlds collide. Partially because I got a new canvas in a size that I've never painted on before. It's long and narrow (I'm guessing it must be 48"x12"), and I'm finding that changing up the canvas size can really shake you out of a routine.

"Forest for the Trees" Tabetha Landt Hastings

My new painting is still in it's first stages, and therefore a bit camera shy. It's been trying to decide whether it was the city taking over nature, or nature reclaiming her ground. The struggle is in me of course, because I want them to coexist.

As luck would have it, I came across an artist today who combines city and nature so beautifully, that I just had to share. Also, I'm wild about her technique - she doesn't use paintbrushes, but instead she squeezes the paint out of bottles, and tips the canvas to get the paint where she wants it. Her name is Amy Shackleton, and you can check out her work here.

Below is a time lapse video of Amy in action. It's pretty amazing to watch! I finally noticed that there were words on the screen in my third time watching it!