December Collection by Shannon Sorensen
This is a virtual art gallery for paintings featured at Lucy Robbins Welles Library in December 2022. You are invited to join me for an informal open house reception on Saturday, December 17 from 11am-3pm, or stop by to visit my art anytime this month when the library is open!
I am thrilled to have the opportunity to share my art at Lucy Robbins Welles Library in my hometown of Newington, Connecticut! This virtual online gallery will provide more information about each piece, whether you’re visiting in person or enjoying it from home.
The artwork shown here corresponds with the order in which they’re displayed, if you start to the left and work your way clockwise around the room. Some paintings are available for purchase, and will have a link under the description.
You may contact me with any questions, and enjoy the rest of 2022!
SELF PORTRAIT
6x9 Acrylic on paper, painted March 2022, at home in Newington, CT
Not available for purchase.
I hadn’t attempted a self portrait since college, and at that time, was mainly working with charcoal. I was curious - what would it feel like to paint how I see myself these days, with a vibrant palette and whimsy in my brushstrokes? Should I wear my glasses? After looking at my face in the mirror for a while, I started to see more shapes and curves, light and shadows, and suddenly, there I was, on paper.
THINKING OF YOU
11x14 Acrylic on wood panel, painted August 2021, at home in Newington, CT
Price: $250. Available for purchase, or browse print options.
Inspired by a summer bouquet I picked up on a whim one day at Eddy Farm’s stand on Willard Ave. I took the flowers home and arranged them, and then sat down to paint them. Sunflowers mixed with daisies, zinnias and more, it was a colorful and whimsical array of blossoms. One of my favorite summer jobs when I was in college, was working for a local florist, delivering flowers to homes, events, special occasions, or just because.
Flowers bring so much joy and comfort, showing that the recipient is in the giver’s mind and heart. Hence, why I titled this one “Thinking of You”.
MYKONOS
8x10 Acrylic on wood panel, painted July 2021, at home in Newington, CT
Price: $200. Available for purchase, or browse print options.
I traveled to Greece with my husband and his family shortly after we were married in 2010, and I fell in love with the seaside beauty that is Mykonos.
The white and blue buildings and homes…the stony, narrow walkways…the warm coastline and vibrant energy of travelers mixed with residents…
Fishing, food, gazing at the sea, bustling through town…it’s a special place that I’m grateful to have seen in my life.
MARMALADE SKY
6x6 Acrylic on wood panel, painted December 2021, at home in Newington, CT
Price: $120. Available for purchase, or browse print options.
I wanted to create a piece to go along with “Tangerine Dream”, but with its own personality. This piece is small but makes a statement. It’s bright, whimsical, joyful - one of my favorite “happy little artworks”. The painting extends around all four side panels.
TANGERINE DREAM
8x8 Acrylic on wood panel, painted August 2021, at home in Newington, CT
Price: $160. Available for purchase, or browse print options.
As summer comes to a close and the air changes here in New England, I look forward to deeper tones, richer textures that speak of comfort and slowing down. Late summer and early fall florals of reds, orange and yellow make this abstract really juicy and playful. The painting extends around all four side panels.
ABSTRACT DREAMSCAPE
24x36 Acrylic on canvas, painted January 2022, at home in Newington, CT
Not available for purchase. Browse print options.
I wanted to create something that looked otherworldly, and I was listening to “Across the Universe” by The Beatles when the idea for this piece started to take shape. This was the largest piece I had worked on at that point, and spent several days playing with layering, making marks, drips and texture.
Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup / They slither wildly as they slip away across the universe / Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my opened mind… / Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes… / Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letterbox / They tumble blindly as they make their way across the universe… / Limitless undying love which shines around me like a million suns / It calls me on and on across the universe…
IT RAINED ALL SUMMER 1
8x8 Acrylic on wood panel, painted July 2021, at home in Newington, CT
Price: $160. Available for purchase, or browse print options.
Inspired by the vibrant gardens in my husband’s parents’ yard after a summer rain, with daylilies, hydrangea, morning glories, pansies, roses, and honeysuckle.
IT RAINED ALL SUMMER 2
8x8 Acrylic on wood panel, painted July 2021, at home in Newington, CT
Price: $160. Available for purchase, or browse print options.
Inspired by the vibrant gardens in my husband’s parents’ yard, looking out the window during a summer rain, with daylilies, hydrangea, morning glories, pansies, roses, and honeysuckle.
WITHOUT YOU
8x10 Acrylic on wood panel, painted December 2021, at home in Newington, CT
Price: $120. Available for purchase, or browse print options.
I made this painting during the holiday season, while listening to The Beatles, and thinking of loved ones who have passed. Winter can be a difficult time to miss those you love, and when I was done with this painting, my mom commented to me that she saw figures, like spirits, gathered together, and that gave me some comfort.
CHANGING TIDES
18x24 Acrylic on canvas, painted June 2022, at home in Newington, CT
Price: $450. Available for purchase, or browse print options.
After reading “Where the Crawdads Sing”, I made this piece, thinking of the setting of the marshes and the part the tides played in the progress of the story. My father is a fisherman, and when I was younger, we had a fishing store and would spend evenings going to the beach and marshes to go fishing or digging for clams. The story reminded me of so many memories and feelings of smelling the low tide, the salty air, and feeling my hands in the water, sand or mud.
FOLLOW THE SUN
9x12 Acrylic on repurposed canvas, painted December 2021, at home in Newington, CT
Price: $250. Available for purchase, or browse print options.
Named for the song by The Beatles, and the particular tug of nostalgia you feel when looking at the ocean, or listening to an old favorite song. “For tomorrow may rain, so I’ll follow the sun…”
HAPPY LITTLE BOATS
8x10 Acrylic on repurposed canvas, painted January 2022, at home in Newington, CT
Not available for purchase. Browse print options.
We spent so much time on the water when I was young, on a small fishing boat, and in my teens, learning to sail a boat my dad bought called Inertia. This piece is an ode to those days on the water, seeing other families and fisherman bobbing and zipping by off the shore.
TOUCHING HEAVEN
9x12 Acrylic on repurposed canvas, painted December 2021, at home in Newington, CT
Price: $250. Available for purchase, or browse print options.
I love being at the beach at low tide, and how the sand stretches on to the flattened water, which stretches on to the sky. At sunrise or sunset, the ethereal glow makes other worlds feel within reach.
COASTAL STUDY 2
9x12 Acrylic on paper, painted June 2022, at Mill Pond Park in Newington, CT
Price: $175. Available for purchase, or browse print options (link coming soon).
I sat with a friend for a while at Mill Pond Park on a beautiful spring day, and we painted together. It’s amazing how changing up your creative environment can affect your art. It was also a bit challenging, not getting blown around by the wind and breezes.
This is the second in a series of coastal explorations using fingerpainting technique.
COASTAL STUDY 1
9x12 Acrylic on paper, painted June 2022, at home in Newington, CT
Price: $175. Available for purchase, or browse print options (link coming soon).
Isn’t it weird and a little sad that as we grow older, things like fingerpainting become too messy to enjoy? I wanted to work backwards and get back to that childhood joy of sweeping paint across a piece of paper with my fingers, making messy dabs and smears. I decided to give it a try, to challenge myself a bit to get away from the brushstroke style I had been creating with for a while.
This is the first in a series of coastal explorations using fingerpainting technique.
COASTAL STUDY 3
9x12 Acrylic on paper, painted June 2022, at home in Newington, CT
Price: $175. Available for purchase, or browse print options (link coming soon).
This was my third time fingerpainting a coastal study, and this time, my kids were home and seeing me paint and were UTTERLY AMAZED that mommy was getting her hands so messy with paint. I hope they see what I create and know that there’s so much possibility as they grow up. They can make messes and break rules. I hope they find the same peace and joy that I have found with my art.
This is the third in a series of coastal explorations using fingerpainting technique.
OUT OF NOWHERE
8x10 Acrylic on canvas panel, painted May 2021, at home in Newington, CT
Price: $200. Available for purchase, or browse print options.
This piece is inspired by waves of grief, the journey I’ve been on since 2018, and the various levels of collective grief we have felt day after day since the beginning of Covid. They can come up suddenly and take you by surprise. It can feel powerful, heavy, and knock you off your feet. And sometimes, just as quickly as it arrives, it has passed.
DAUGHTER OCEAN
8x8 Watercolor, painted January 2020, at home in Newington, CT
Not available for purchase. Browse print options.
I remember sitting at my dining room table, deciding I wanted to “be good at watercolor”. I’m not sure why I felt this desire, but I made a few pieces and thought they were rubbish. So I strayed from the florals and seascapes (which is actually a bit funny considering my body of work) and made an expressive, curvy feminine form. I fell in love with her, and shortly thereafter, decided to keep painting, but with acrylics.
SOMEWHERE NORTH OF HERE
24x36 Acrylic on canvas, painted June-August 2022, at home in Newington, CT
Price: $1500. Available for purchase, or browse print options (link coming soon).
I was playing with the idea of a place from my memory, or maybe a blend of a couple places, and how they feel to me. One place is the coast of Maine. Another is the White Mountains in New Hampshire. And beyond that, dreaming of places I haven’t been, or perhaps I have in another life or another time.
ABSTRACT UPCYCLE
Made from thrifted canvas art, painted June 2022, at home in Newington, CT
Price: $150. Available for purchase, or browse print options. (links coming soon)
This was a thrifted piece of printed art on canvas that I covered over with white gesso primer, and just went a little wild. Some days I like to create something with a bit more defined structure and form, and other days, I just want to let loose.
SHIPYARD LANE
8x8 Acrylic on wood panel, painted December 2021, at home in Newington, CT
Price: $120. Available for purchase, or browse print options (link coming soon).
Inspired by Duxbury Bay, and a view from the shore of all the different boats parked off the shore.
ABSTRACT SEASCAPE
8x8 Acrylic on wood panel, painted December 2021, at home in Newington, CT
Price: $120. Available for purchase, or browse print options (link coming soon).
Using a wintery palette, this abstract depicts memories of days at the beach or a harbor, seeing boats off in the distance from the shore.
ABSTRACT WILDFLOWERS 1
4x6 Acrylic on repurposed canvas, painted January 2021, at home in Newington, CT
Price: $75. Available for purchase, or browse print options. (links coming soon)
This was my first “successful” attempt at creating an abstract. It’s a lot harder than you’d think, making something expressive, loose, colorful, and something you’re imagining but have to allow to take shape physically in front of you. I had two small pieces of canvas side by side, and was delighted to see them coming to life in the way I had hoped and imagined.
ABSTRACT WILDFLOWERS 2
4x6 Acrylic on repurposed canvas, painted January 2021, at home in Newington, CT
Price: $75. Available for purchase, or browse print options. (links coming soon)
This was also my first time creating a diptych, two pieces of art created side by side, together but also standing alone on their own.
MOUNTAINSIDE SERENITY
9x12 Acrylic on paper, painted July 2021, on vacation in Franconia, NH
Price: $200. Available for purchase (link coming soon), or browse print options.
This was painted during a vacation in New Hampshire, enjoying the scenery of the Franconia Notch area, picturing these magical mountains and valleys speckled with wildflowers, and that feeling of peace that you can only really find in the mountains.
WHERE THE WILDFLOWERS GROW 1
9x12 Acrylic on paper, painted August 2022, at home in Newington, CT
Price: $175. Available for purchase, or browse print options. (links coming soon)
The left panel of two paintings, a blend of brush and fingerpainting, inspired by imagining the Shire in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Wide open sweeping skies, and fields of wildflowers that stretch on far beyond what the eye can see.
THE WORLD IS WIDE
18x24 Acrylic on repurposed canvas, painted January 2022, at home in Newington, CT
Not available for purchase. Browse print options.
Inspired by imagining Middle Earth of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, this unique piece was made by putting two pieces of repurposed canvas together. I had painted the bottom half, and was working on the top, but growing frustrated that it wasn’t turning out the way I hoped. I set it aside, along with this bottom piece, and stepping back, decided I wanted to put them together and finish it off as one piece. They are glued at a seam in the middle, and mounted on a solid canvas.
WHERE THE WILDFLOWERS GROW 2
9x12 Acrylic on paper, painted August 2022, at home in Newington, CT
Price: $175. Available for purchase, or browse print options. (links coming soon)
The right panel of two paintings, a blend of brush and fingerpainting, inspired by imagining the Shire in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. This was an enjoyable diptych to create, and I love how they look on their own, as well as together.
THE GRIEF OF TIME
9x12 Acrylic on paper, painted February 2022, at home in Newington, CT
I read this phrase in a book, “the grief of time”, and I couldn’t get it out of my head. I feel it - the grief of time. At 39, I have lost grandparents and a pregnancy. I have two beautiful children growing faster than I can keep up. Time passes and it is bittersweet, caught in the present moment of life, and looking both forward and back, desperate for it to slow down while knowing that it only seems to keep speeding up.
SONGBIRD
12x12 Acrylic on wood panel, painted in March 2022, at home in Newington, CT
Price: $375. Available for purchase, or browse print options. (links coming soon)
Inspired while listening to Fleetwood Mac, this melody always fills me with an indescribable feeling. I started with a basic form of a bird, using black, and allowed the painting to take shape over a couple weeks. The night before I was to display my art here, I heard the news of Chrstine McVie’s death, and this piece took on even more meaning to me.
BECOMING WHO I AM
9x12 Acrylic on paper, painted February 2022, at home in Newington, CT
“Becoming Who I Am” is a phrase from a song by Margaret Becker called “Clay and Water”, and has always resonated with me as we slowly become who we are throughout our lives, constantly changing form, taking on new characteristics while leaving pieces behind.
This piece was created at a time where I felt like I was truly emerging into the artist I hoped to become.
ASTER
9x12 Acrylic on paper, painted May 2022, at home in Newington, CT
Price: $200. Available for purchase, or browse print options. (links coming soon)
Aster is a flower named for the Greek word for star, symbolizing love, wisdom, and hope. I painted this on a day that typically brings me some sadness, to bring some light into the day.
“A Late Walk”, by Robert Frost
When I go up through the mowing field,
The headless aftermath,
Smooth-laid like thatch with the heavy dew,
Half closes the garden path.
And when I come to the garden ground,
The whir of sober birds
Up from the tangle of withered weeds
Is sadder than any words.
A tree beside the wall stands bare,
But a leaf that lingered brown,
Disturbed, I doubt not, by my thought,
Comes softly rattling down.
I end not far from my going forth
By picking the faded blue
Of the last remaining aster flower
To carry again to you.
Thank you for visiting my gallery, in person or virtual. You can browse my available paintings, see what handmade items I have in the shop, or subscribe to my newsletter for weekly updates!