In early 2021, Linda Hart began noticing the beauty in crumbling, decaying industrial warehouses and buildings in the Miami Valley and decided to challenge herself to do a body of work with subject matter she was unfamiliar with, to stretch her creativity and grow as an artist. She set out driving around East and West Dayton to take photos and found numerous industrial vignettes often with nature visibly taking over the structures or changing them in beautiful ways. She realized how perfect watercolor was to capture the beauty of the drips, rust, striations and textures of these decaying buildings. Chasing Urban Shadows was born from that urge to explore another path in her art. Linda saw the beauty in the decaying structures and wanted to bring that beauty to others’ attention with this body of work.
While still painting urban scenes, Linda still paints the natural world and the flowers and plants that inspire her.
About her work:
The more time I spent looking at deteriorating buildings in the backgrounds of our life in the Miami Valley, the more possibilities I saw for interesting and abstract paintings and was inspired to paint these scenes. I liked the way these images were actually some place real but also came across as an abstract image for your own interpretation. I found beauty in the decay, the same way I had previously found beauty in the flowers I have painted and grown for years. There is hidden beauty everywhere, even in industrial warehouses and train bridge overpasses and you must look a little harder to see it.
Will these aging industrial buildings become even more beautiful as they deteriorate more? I hope I inspire others to wonder about the same things while enjoying the images I have painted. I hope I have brought the beauty of what time and nature has done to these buildings to life and others love what they have become as they have evolved in their surroundings."
Linda continues to paint the beauty of industrial Dayton but also has returned to her roots and brings flowers to life on canvas and clayboard in her Floral Auras series. Growing up at a nursery in Southwestern Pennsylvania instilled the beauty of nature and flowers for Linda at an early age. As a lifelong artist and gardener, she grows much of her subject matter. Moonflowers, bright yellow sunflowers and zinnias grown in her own yard are just some of the inspiration for her subject matter. This series embodies her life experiences as a gardener and an artist as she explores the inherent and ethereal beauty nature provides.