Upon Me to Change

“Upon You’ 36×36 acrylic on canvas (sold at Portland Art Gallery, Portland Maine)

Over the winter I made a focused effort to begin to explore how I could transition my work toward an abstract approach. My recent work has evolved from plein air/impressionist  to an illustrative approach. Then on toward a narrative style by adding people and a ‘story’. In following this evolution I’m now working on fresh new ways–for me– to work with my subject matter and medium.

The painting above is one that incorporates some of the elements I’ve been working with for several years–buildings, people, woodlands, boats, blues. What I have done here is use a limited palette–a small group of colors instead of the intense vibrant options I commonly select. This forced me to lean on the design of shapes to create a painting rather than the intensity of colors. It was not easy as I tried not to reach for an orange or red. 🙂

The under painting beneath this final image is where I played with colors and let the painting evolve. Left is painting on top of a previous work; right is building more surface texture with paint layers, middle is developing a narrative/story line–which in some of my work is more subtle.

I continue on this art journey in a place that is tapping into unknown areas of my process and challenging me to move along in a different but related direction. This thread of connection to my previous work helps ground me as I work–as I am not a fan of freefalling. But I’ll get there. Thank you for following and sharing my work. 

Lesson learned: Only I can make my work.