EARTH PAINTINGS

Earth Paintings

Textural paintings created from raw earth combined with traditional painting mediums.

The light reflectivity of these works provide a lively surface:

the earthen, textured areas absorb more light than the glazed canvas areas.

The color of these works is informed by the tones of the earth used in the painting:

Each location where the earth was collected imparts its own character to the work.

Incarnation of the Feminine Force

Earth (from Chama riverbed, New Mexico) and mixed media on canvas

132" x 54" x 3 1/2 "

This painting surprised me with its completeness, right at its inception. I had been looking through a book of images of Goddesses the night before starting the painting. The next day, with no expectations at all, I threw the paint and an entire bucket of earth onto the canvas thinking that I was creating a background texture for a work that I judged might take me an entire year, given of the size of the canvas and my usual meticulous working methods. I moved the loose earth into the wet paint with sweeping gestures of my hands, until all the paint had settled. The canvas had acted like a drum, magnifying the roar of the earth and gravel moving swiftly on its surface. When the great noise of the painting process itself had become quiet, I was stunned to see that my unconscious had released it's own interpretation of an image of Kali that I had admired in the book the night before! The image featured a representation of a tigress in the act of saving her young cubs by attacking a predator.