Days 5 & 6 of Duality: Grass Series - No. 6: Seagrass

Grass Series - No. 6: Seagrass (triptych)

acrylic & mixed meda on canvas, each panel 24"x48", 2010

This particular painting is the sixth in my Grass Series*. I had originally begun working on this piece during my pregnancy in 2008. And my inspiration was the simple fact that in any seahorse species, males are the ones who give birth. So, at 6-months into my pregnancy, this was the most amazing idea I had ever heard of!

Because I was in a nesting-phase, I entertained the thought of finishing this piece for the baby's nursery. But I only thought to take a photo after having already painted quite a few different layers on. So, this is the first underlayer that I can share:

Seagrass - underlayer photo 1

I am embarrassed that the photo actually includes a heinously doodled cartoon seahorse in the corner. But I had jokingly (albeit tentatively) entitled it, "I Wish I Were a Seahorse."

I then took a short hiatus from working in the studio, what with the arrival of our daughter in August of 2008. I wasn't able to fully return to work mentally or emotionally until September of 2009. And then this happened:

Seagrass - underlayer photo 2

I incorporated cliffs and and began experimenting with image transfers. As you can see, the work progressed quite a bit from that first photo. But if you examine the triptych carefully, you may be able to find the partially hidden objects: a female reproductive system, seahorses (of various sizes), a sleeping baby,a baby's foot cradled by her dad's hand; a male long jump athlete, and a female long jump athlete.

Seagrass - photos of seahorse details





Seagrass - long jump & glass bead texture detail

At this point, I began to look at the piece from a purely compositional perspective. I wanted to see what needed to be taken away, and decide on what I needed to focus on. This is where I then introduced stylized brown algae-like forms to begin obscuring some of the details, and to add more perspective to the piece:

Seagrass - underlayer photo 3

It wasn't long after that, that I decided to then use blocks of dark blue washes to play with darkness and focus on the light as it is filtered through the water.

Seagrass - underlayer photo 4

I'm not sure at which point I then realized that this piece was part of the Grass Series. But since seahorse habitats mainly consist of grasses, and because this painting has very much to do with Change as it pertains to childbirth and parenthood, it seemed inevitable.

Grass Series - No. 6: Seagrass (triptych)acrylic & mixed meda on canvas, each panel 24"x48", 2010

Grass Series - No. 6: Seagrass is part of the Duality exhibition at Yama Yoga Studios from May 27th to June 6th, 2010. For more details on timings and directions, please click here.

*Grass Series - please stay tuned for a future blog entry.