Nudes

February 14th we celebrated Valentines Day at the Ciao Gallery in Jackson at the opening of the 4th Annual Naturally Nude show. I entered three pieces into this juried show and two were accepted. Full Moon at Neap Tide was done some years ago when our daughter was approaching adulthood. Imagining her maturity triggered thoughts of my own. This piece is a reflection on the cyclical nature of my life--as female, as an artist. Lightly rendered with very few hard lines, the images are layered and super imposed. Shapes and colors overlap, blend into each other and morph into images, creating depth and mystery--reflecting life and the creative process. The images themselves--the moon, moon phases and stardust--are archetypal. They represent an ever reassuring passage of time, cycles and seasons. The title, female body and moon phases evoke an ebb and flow--a fullness, fecundity, creativity; an emptying, loss and resurgence.

Facing Forward was a study started in a workshop twenty years ago. I pulled it out to rework and finish as a possible entry for this show. It was like stumbling upon an old journal entry, recognizable but distant. Many of the colors used have long since disappeared from my palette and I was stumped by my direct application of paint. I have not worked this way for a long time, it was almost like finishing someone else's work. But I loved the model's unflinching expression, the play of color in the background and a few of the gestural lines laid down in seconds and frozen for decades. I had to finish this piece--painting became a time shifting dance, weaving in and out, tying old and new into a cohesive whole.