The largeness of this painting was intimidating at first. I haven’t created anything this big since my gecko mural I did my senior year of college. Working on paper and on the wall loosened up my inhibitions about making a painting this big. And the quickness of acrylic paint and the doodling quality of oil pastels were the freshness I needed after recently tiring of oil painting.
Instead of one long, continuous room, I decided to make two rooms to better emphasize notions of here vs. there, now vs. future, and other contrasts that have twinges of longing. The left-side room is open and cherishing late afternoon with light both comfortably settling, and also lifting and streaming across the room. The room on the right is more dimly lit and mostly concealed by a wall of diamonds. This room is more mysterious, harder to access, but also potentially offers repose. The left is more about togetherness and the right is about the “other.”
I like how this diamond shape can stand in for windows, stained glass, floor tiles, and quilt patterning. After making two, big diamonds works, I am still very interested in exploring this shape and how it can add definition to a room while also keeping a layer of ambiguity and abstraction as well.
