Tree Paintings and Weavings

I have continued work on the tree paintings from my last post. Below are two images, each with a detail corresponding. I am thinking about abstracting the landscape through sculpting space with shape, line and tone. Color juxtapositions, overlapping and transparencies are also becoming important in my painting.





Here are three paintings in progress. I have started to paint with washes by using more medium in my oil paint.




Weaving continues to infuse my painting practice. The weaving below hangs on my studio wall at 8'x10'.


Here are two details of my large weaving, followed by a two oil studies on canvas board.

Tree Shapes

To begin this spring semester, I completed 20 drawings of tree shapes growing near my parents' cabin in Wyman Township, Maine. These new works have inspired the series of paintings pictured here, where I have used a limited pallet and washed the canvas with a buttercup ground.



In the new work, I continue to think about the interplay of positive and negative shape. Similar to the shadows which crept across my paintings last semester, my tree paintings are a response to luminosity, patterning and the push and pull of light and dark.






Paintings are 3' x 3' .

I spent November and December of last semester painting these four paintings. They are large for me, sized at roughly 5x6 1/2 '. In these pieces I am thinking about shadow, color and light. The shape of negative and positive space and how the two form each other.





While painting the large canvases, I continued to work with weaving and collage to assist me in finding light patterns and rhythms.


The weaving below is painted paper that has been cut and woven back together, reflecting images from the following window studies.



Below are the individual window studies from my last entry. Posted in consecutive order.

Color!

I have included two recent pictures of my studio in Boston. On the floor is a new large canvas I am prepping. I will work on this canvas and the other large canvas (last pic in post) simultaneously.

Thinking about color relationships, I decided to zoom in on areas in my house paintings where color shapes and rhythms seem to vibrate. This happens to occur most commonly within shadowed window panes. These oil paintings are 6"x 8".

Excited about the abstract studies, earlier this week I created three on larger canvases. Two 15''x15'' and one 18''x18''.



This canvas at 5' x 6 1/2' is the largest I have painted. I am enjoying the challenge of painting using full body movement to make a mark. I am working to translate my mark making from the abstract window paintings onto the larger paintings.

MFA Study

Below is a paper weaving mounted on a water color image. It is my response to our seminar assignment "make a large drawing to represent time without using sequence." I have been thinking about time as a variable, the layers of past, present and future, and a web of interconnected moments.


These paintings are about the shape color forms create in situations with direct and natural light. I just had a critique where someone noticed the recurring theme of an X composition in my work, fascinating!!
My weaving may originate from this painting...

Painting North Haven

This show named Painting North Haven, is located at the Waterman's Community Center on the island. The show will run from August 3rd -16th and includes 18 paintings from my work on North Haven over the past three years. I hope you are able to visit!