Artwork > Paintings on Found Wood > Select Exhibits > Open Studios

Combined Energy
Open Studios - 2011

This exhibit highlights my newest work, Combined energy- my most recent creation since the birth of my son. As I have watched him grow in recent months, I shift between seeing parts of me and my husband in him vs. seeing him as his own unique individual. This work reflects the combination of energies to create a new force.

The piece is not linear in that it was created working from each end to the center rather than from right to left or left to right. This challenge presented a twist in my regular process, one that was both difficult and refreshing. Each panel consists of three colors that shift, grow, and play together on their journey. The center color of green symbolizes nature and growth and shines brightly as its own color, though it is also the combination of the yellow and blue. Next to certain colors the green may look a bit more yellow or a bit more blue, as they are colors that are carried within its composition, colors that help make green the color it is.

Along with the theme of energy and growth, this exhibit also features recent works inspired by the colors of nature found in the Arnold Arboretum in the form of photographs I had taken in 2010. Though finding the muse was easy, I then worked to study the stacks of scrap wood I had collected in my studio so as to find the right “canvas” to explore the colors and patterns captured in each photograph. Paints used are all leftovers from a past mural project (yay recycling!) and are from a new line of zero VOC paints that are environmentally friendly. The artwork shown here were inspired by photographs of Lilacs taken on Mother’s Day, a fitting complement to the work I created upon becoming a mother.