Breathing Space

The last in my Breathing Space series is called "Wandering Elsewhere."

"Wandering Elsewhere" acrylic on paper, 11x14"

 It is so helpful for me to work in a series.  First because I don't have to come up with something new to work on everyday.  Second, it feels good to have something to anchor me when I'm painting abstractly.  It keeps me coming back to my initial intent.

It also lets me see what patterns emerge and see what things I want to explore further.

"Wandering Elsewhere" is similar to "Traveling Alone" in that they both have lots of empty space and rely on small clusters of marks for composition.  In this series, I really wanted to explore how far I could push that empty space without having it become boring, and these have a lot of it.

"Traveling Alone"

 I'm really fascinated by compositions that hug the edge of the page, as in "Edge of Night" and "Secret Ravine" and would like to explore that more.  It's very tricky to take things out of the center of the painting without ending up with a dead hole.

"Edge of Night"

"Secret Ravine"

 I like what the bright pops of color do to the grayed down cools in "Commencement" and "Morning Caravan."

"Commencement"

"Morning Caravan"

 Finally, I'm interested in playing with some harder edged blocks of opaque color as in "Night Light."

"Night Light"

Just some notes to myself, so I remember what I learn along the way.
And I just learned how to resize my photos so they appear larger on the blog.  I'm very happy about that!

Breathing Space

"Secret Ravine" came about after a hike in the Columbia Gorge.

"Secret Ravine" acrylic on paper, 11x14"

Breathing Space

This one from the Breathing Space series is called "Congregation," named after the painting was done.

"Congregation", 11x14", acrylic on paper

Breathing Space

"Commencement" Acrylic on paper, 11x14"

This painting came towards the end of my "Breathing Space" series, and I notice that there is not a lot of breathing space left in it!  I titled this "Commencement" as it felt like the beginning of things, lots of budding and sprouting.

Breathing Space

Night Light, acrylic on paper, 11x14"

Sometimes I start with an inspiration or idea before I paint, other times I just like to see what comes out and then I name it after I see it.  This was the latter.  It's interesting to look back on these that I painted a while ago because this has now become one of my favorites, and it wasn't at first.

Breathing Space--and Not

 Another from my Breathing Space series.  This one is called Traveling Alone.  I've been spending a lot of time traveling with family over the last few years.  It's been wonderful, but I  especially love those moments when I am off by myself and have time to absorb what's around me in silence.

Traveling Alone, acrylic on paper, 11x14"

Last year my paintings were very calm, but that is not the state I'm in right now.  I can't help but notice how much stuff appears as I paint.  Here's one in the early under stages at my easel, maybe things will be calmer by the time it's finished.  We can only hope. 

Breathing Space

I wanted to experiment with opening up the center of a canvas, having lots of quiet space in the middle and pushing the chaotic elements to the edges.

Edge of Tomorrow, acrylic on paper, 11x14"

Breathing Space

I think it's impossible for me not to be influenced by the seasons.  I start every morning with my coffee, looking out on the Portland hills with their classic northwest scenery of evergreens often draped with fog. Even when I'm not thinking about the it, the seasonal shifts in color seem to appear in my paintings. The Breathing Space series was done in spring and those yellowy greens and cool blues were appearing everywhere. This one is called "Spring Breeze" a little look forward on this gray Jan. day.

"Spring Breeze" acrylic on paper, 11x14"

Breathing Space

One of the painting series I did last year was called "Breathing Space."  I wanted all the paintings in the series to have a feeling of openness to them, a moment of expansiveness, of catching your breath.

11x14"  Acrylic and mixed media on paper

This one is called "Morning Caravan" and was based on the many thoughts that travel through my head when I'm trying to have a peaceful morning of writing Morning Pages.