This is the first guitar I’ve painted for Guitar for Vets, it’s truly been an honor. I’m originally from Compton, CA of all places where I started to draw, eventually I got into tattooing and landed an apprenticeship at HIDN TATTOO in San Jacinto, CA where I learned a lot but ended up leaving due to school, work and taking care of my babies. 

A lot of my buddies were affected during 2020 and aren’t here with us anymore. When I drew the concept of this drawing I was thinking about how 

We all walk around with an empty feeling as if we are pursuing something but never got it or are still looking for it. The skeleton represents any service member out there not feeling themselves. He is out in the woods at night where one might feel cold and there’s no light in his world so the moon doesn’t exist for him. He does however have a jar, something that can be empty representing that feeling, he may not have the natural light but he can still pull something out of that jar he carries to light up his way even for a second. 

So if there’s any Vets out there not feeling OK, you’re not alone. You have to stop focusing on the darkness and cold place you dwell. There is always something bright on the inside. You just have to open that jar up and find your way back. 

“I am a self taught artist with twenty years of experience. My work has always been deeply connected to my identity. I tell stories and develop works that speak to myself and others. These visions come from the wanderings of my soul, exploring lucid dreams, and breaking through depression. I strive to make beautiful what some find sad or disturbing. I have spent the past three years trying to connect with my work on a deeper level improving my natural talent to create pieces that are authentic and powerful by achieving “flow state” a state of consciousness that occurs when you are connected with what you create and you become one with your art. My style is constantly evolving from otherworldly dream-like experiences to intense and wild visions. Creating is what makes me feel alive. I like to think that passion is genuinely felt through my artwork. “

About the artist: “The secret of the mountain is that the mountains simply exist, as I do myself: the mountains simply exist, which I do not. The mountains have no “meaning,” they are meaning; the mountains are.. I ring with life, and the mountains ring, and when I can hear it, there is a ringing that we share. I understand all this, not in my mind but in my heart…” -Peter Matthiessen, The Snow Leopard

Carol Schilling has been painting and drawing since childhood. She is a wife (44 years), a mother of two grown children (one of whom is a veteran), and a grandmother of three. She has taught high school  and was a tenured college professor. She owns CS Arts and has painted and studied in France, Italy, Canada, and U.S. Today, she paints in her studio surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. She works with acrylic, oil, watercolor, pen and ink, graphite (and clay) on treater paper, canvas, or wood. She is a portrait and figure artist. However, she experiments with landscapes and florals. She loves the dramatic contrasts of the Dutch master florals and admires the softness of the French Impressionist landscapes. She says that, for her, “green is a mystery; green is never just green.”

For this painting, The Secrets of The Mountain, Carol was inspired by the view of the setting sun in late/summer/ early fall while she was fixing dinner. It is personal. It is also universal. Because of atmospheric and seasonal changes, it is never static. There is very little noise in those mountains. Yet, wildlife is abundant. Bears meander in those mountains and leave scat and heavy paw prints. Snakes, birds, insects, and critters hide in those mountains. Yet, it feels safe. Those mountains reflect a never-ending feeling of mystery and possibility, the heavy earth, and the light, hopefulness of the sky.

Like the mountains, the process for this painting is multi-layered. Carol cautiously prepared the front of the guitar by gently sanding it. (Paint does not adhere to slick varnish.) Then, she vertically and horizontally applied multiple coats of artist gesso and used steel wool between coats. Next, she softly sketched in the mountain range using a number two pencil. For visual interest, she used a traditional division of the space: one-third land and two-thirds sky. This allowed her to incorporate the saddle and bridge into the curves of the mountains and the pickguard and sound hole into the sky. Because of their flexibility, Carol used professional quality artist acrylic paints. As influenced by French Impressionist oil painters, the palette is a traditional one for landscapes: (titanium) white, cadmium orange/ yellow/red, sap and viridian green, cobalt, cerulean, and ultramarine blue. To protect the paint, she used a soft gel gloss diluted with water as an isolation coat. To seal the painting, she used a professional artist “removable” gloss varnish made specifically for acrylic paintings.