Shoreline artist has paintings in Georgetown show

Painting by Amy Pleasant

Shoreline artist Amy Pleasant is part of a new art exhibit at the Georgetown Castle in Seattle which opened on August 9.

Her paintings reflect her life experience and adventures as part of a blended family.

"As we all  struggled, learned and grew I knew then that someday there would be art from this experience."

She explains the background for the topics of the paintings:

The paintings I have done for Continental Shift reflect the first year our new family formed in 2004. My husband was in the Army Reserves as the war in Iraq was gearing up.  The last thing he said to me before we walked down the aisle was, "I promise I won't be deployed". Of course, that is a promise no soldier can make and he was gone six months later. I was thrown the curve of parenting his two children and my own biological son. At the time, it was so strange to be suddenly raising these children who felt more like strangers than family. I have described it as being thrown into the deep end of the stepparenting pool.

Paintings by Amy Pleasant

“Family Circus”,"High Wire", "Deployment" and "Odd Man Out" (above) seemed the most appropriate metaphor to describe my experience of ever seeking balance for the family and myself. 

Paintings by Amy Pleasant

The "Day One" series (above) which includes “Fairytale Ending”, "Loyalties" and "Tie that Binds" reflect the push and pull of divided loyalties, new roles and life transitions that non biological families experience when families are formed. The journey is ongoing, however, the art captures a moment.