Behind the art: Breathing

This morning, I brought a glass of water to my outdoor patio and watched the sun rise through the tree branches. My favorite thing these days is watching nature move at its own pace outdoors. It makes me a little envious if I’m being honest. To have societally approved permission to move at your own pace. In today’s world, it seems like everything is always encouraging you to move faster. So, this week, I’m challenging myself to move slower.

At this point it has been a month and a half since I quit my career in property management and committed myself to my art career. It’s been a month and a half since I started creating art after (virtually) a two year break. Two years where I was moving on autopilot through life, lost about who I was, and fulfilling obligations and responsibilities. Living within the box that I unwittingly stepped inside.

Boxes, boxes, boxes. It's all I could think of.

Being inside them, breaking out of them. . . And so a new series emerged. Her name is Breathing.

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Now, I sit surrounded by oil paintings in my home studio. The artwork keeps stacking higher and higher. I’m running out of storage room, and browse shops for cabinets, drawers, and drying racks  for my artwork. I am just in awe at what I’ve accomplished during this short amount of time. I’ll share some pieces for you to view as well.

This is a series, still currently in progress, which I call BREATHING. These paintings depict: Feminine joy, freedom, and overcoming expectations to find yourself.

​Let me tell you a little bit about the process behind these works.
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Before I start painting, I create a box for my subject. As the painting emerges, the box is wiped away, and other times it remains stubborn. I think of this box as the boxes that others try to fit you into at first glance, or perhaps the box you create for yourself. The expectations, the limitations, that you have to break outside of. At time’s it’s easy to care about those expectations, and try to fit inside. Other times, you have no choice but to break outside the box and be yourself.

These paintings focus on female figures. What are the expectations of a woman? I'm constantly exploring the inner workings of what we expect of ourselves, and how that affects how we show up to the world. The experience of acknowledging the box we're fitting into, and breaking out of it. And how breaking out creates the joy we're searching for.

The colors are vibrant, exploring the joys in life, the joys of being free of the box, and being yourself fully.

A little bit of history here, if you'll allow me to break off on a tangent.

This work is inspired by the yin and yang, otherwise known as masculine and feminine polarity work. When looking at masculine and feminine polarity work, the feminine is river. The masculine is the riverbank. Now, all individuals have both the masculine and feminine inside them. Polarity work is about balancing those forces inside you. The feminine wants to play, to be free, and joyous. The masculine is law, boundaries, and protection. At least, that’s how I understand it. If someone out there has a different understanding, and would like to share material with me, I’m always looking for more books to read.

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Anyway, getting back to the subject at hand. These paintings take inspiration from the concept or masculine and feminine polarity work, the yin and the yang. The figures depict the yin, the box represents the yang. Even while these figures acknowledge their “box,” one thing is for certain– they are free. They are the river inside the riverbank.

Many start as oil paint studies on a loose sheet of primed canvas. Later, I create the piece on a semi-primed stretched canvas.

I stretch these canvases myself, and prime about ¾ of the surface with house paint.
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I just love how the paint interacts between the primed and unprimed areas. The oil paint sinks in  and stains the unprimed, raw canvas. It sits on top and dominates the primed area.

​How do I let the material shine? To show itself as the centerpiece, while cooperating with the subject matter? Ultimately, there is one goal: I want to create figures that teeter back and forth between recognizable form and abstracted form and color.

Anyway, that’s enough rambling for today. Let me know which of these is your favorite. I always love to chat about art, so don’t hesitate to send me an email with any questions or conversation starters.

I’ll be here.

Speak soon.  ​

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