I often draw inspiration for literary works… great novels, poetry — but often old books or obscure publications. During the first half of 2023 I created the “Shadows and Light” series. The title for the series and for individual works pulled from a poetry book by the same name.
The works were not created/inspired or representations of any of the poems in the book; rather, upon competing each piece I flipped through the poems to find a word or phrase that I felt matched the spirit of the work.
Like much of my work, each painting started with a phrase, written in charcoal or ink. I then applied fabric tape over top of those words (in essence to preserve or protect them).
Following are a few photos of some of the progressions…
A centerpiece of the series is the octotych “Live” comprised of eight, 8”x8” Ampersand Gesso cradled archival panels, forming a composite painting of 16”x32”. While painted as a larger work, my intent was always to offer the panels as individual works. (This is the second such work created/offered this way… will share “Alpha” in a later blog post.) I love that selling individually not only makes the work more affordable, but that each then is tied to something larger, enjoyed/appreciated by others around the city… or perhaps country or even world.
Progression of work…
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