#38 – From „Exaltation“ to „Adam & Eddie“

After a relatively dark but healing period during which my paintings #33 to #37 came to life (click here if you want to read more), a new wave of creativity started in my life in February 2016.

Out of this came out the first layer of my painting #38 which I initially called „Exaltation“ with cloud-like shapes of blue, lilac and light magenta colours. That particular painted rested for a long time untouched, patiently awaiting transformation.

The next layer came one evening in autumn 2017, almost a year and a half later. I was inspired by the golden colours of leaves near my home. I used a mix of green and blue before using a wide brush to add a coat of copper colored paint to the painting, followed by little white bubbles. It was a playful experiment and I enjoyed the lush colours and contrasts, visible in the work in progress shots below.

But the final layer came very decidedly one quiet December evening. My friend Eddie recently married his love Adam this year and I wanted to paint something special for them to celebrate their wedding. Eddie and I messaged each other on Instagram and in a few minutes, I found out that the commission that I would be making for them should convey the feelings of warmth and burrowing, closeness and hibernation, forest animals, with some hues of blacks, golds, or silvers.

With these cues in mind, I stood in front of the work in progress with its gorgeous shades of copper and blue and hints of green and decided to transform it using Eddie‘s cues, bringing black and gold and terracota to the canvas, working the paint either with my hand or with a nice long pinsel and making circles in terracota colour with a wide brush, a reminder of the entrance of a burrow.

I immersed myself in the warmth of the terracota and gold and the darkness of the contrasting black until the canvas called for a gorgeous phtalo green which then wanted to show up in several places on the canvas. A pale halo of silver evoking winter also came through, blended over the black and gold. I feld like hiding amongst the colours, which remind me so much of moss, sunlight, rich earth and roots.

I’ve also added beads of silver to the final layer, like catching pearls of light. They came in rows of seven, evoking for me seven days of a week, the passage of time and weeks that Eddie & Adam have had to stay apart…

I‘m so happy that I was able to capture on canvas the energy that Adam & Eddie were looking for as confirmed by their feedback :)) Another painting headed to the USA, this time to Chicago! Here’s to you both, Adam & Eddie! May this painting give you much pleasure, at least as much as I had when creating it :))