Featured Artist Lynda Fay Braun

Artist Lynda Fay Braun presents a fascinating digital portfolio inspired by the Florida wetlands. Enjoy and visit her website to see more.

 

 

For as long as I can remember, I have felt a profound connection with nature and have always desired to be in the wilderness, far from civilization. As a child, I looked for places where I could feel this immersion. I still do.

 

 

For the past five years I have been living on a 150-acre wildlife preserve along the coast of Southwest Florida with my little brown dog, Gigi. We walk the same bike path every day, and every day something different catches my eye.

 

 

I am attracted to the play of light and shadow in the architectural quality of tropical plants, with their wonderfully unique interplay of patterns. I find secret and often surprising rhythms and patterns presenting material for me to explore later at home on the computer.

 

 

Over the past few years, my creative urges have found a fruitful avenue in the digital realm. I can combine the experience and knowledge gained from the many years spent making abstract paintings with my love of photography, fascination with Photoshop, and inspiration from the environment I live in. I like to think that this process is a dialogue between nature, technology, and myself.

 

 

I’m inspired by the perfection I sense in the way growing things find their balance despite, or maybe because of, the effect of wind and weather. I focus on the verdant chaos, as I look for the inherent order in the overgrown wetland marshes.

 

 

Hurricanes have ravaged the land, yet plant life always finds a way to bounce back. This gives me hope. That hope is expressed in the colors I use. To this end, I am exploring the realm of Tetrachromatic vision, which allows those with this capacity (usually women) to see colors that are not visible to most.

 

 

With Tetrachromatic vision, a person can perceive an estimated 100 million color variations. Using my original photographs as a starting point, I recreate this effect on the computer using a variety of drawing and photographic software. By the time I have finished working on a piece, what started as a photograph of situations usually overlooked by others becomes an abstract composition that when done well evokes human emotions.

 

 

My passion for the natural world seems to transcend the appreciation of its beauty. It is also a search to uncover the spiritual and emotional connections to the earth. Nature tells stories of resilience, interconnectivity, and the ongoing dance of life and death—themes essential for understanding ourselves and our place in the world.

 

 

I see my role as an artist as one of creating a sense of calm and at the same time, awe. When I focus on something through the camera lens and click the shutter, it feels like I’m saying a prayer. I’m saying thank you, not only for the existence of what I photographed, but for life itself.

 

Lynda Fay Braun invites you to follow on Instagram and Facebook. 

 

 

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