I’m venturing into new territory – offering a little insight into some of the hows & whys behind the art I create. I believe there’s a balance between sharing just enough vs too much. Ya know, like how sometimes it’s cool to just let the art speak for itself.

But I often get asked about technique & intent, so.

For my current show @ Blake Anthony Gallery, I played with color theory. This 12-piece series is my exploration with a limited palette & the way the color of a given atmosphere affects shadows & highlights.

I chose plant life for the subject matter. Mainly because I could experiment with a controlled expressionism (is that even possible?!) with bold, limited brushstrokes.

Conceptually, these are plants I completely made up. Sort of variations of similar species. The series title, Flora of Gondwana, speaks to the narrative behind the whole set.

There’s this theory that, over the long arc of geological time, Earth’s landmasses go through repeating periods of convergence & separation. All the land is at times gathered in supercontinents. The land later divides into separate continents.

You probably remember the name Pangaea from elementary school. And how the eastern coastline of South America mirrors the southwestern coastline of Africa. They fit like puzzle pieces. Like Pangaea, other supercontinents have existed: Ur, Rodinia, Pannotia, etc. One of these supercontinents was Gondwana.

As supercontinents drift apart, due to the new oceans stretching between the continents, plants & animals on these separated continents diversify. They change. Different populations of the same species develop in new ways based on new environmental conditions.

Anyway, that’s getting all scientific & brainy. I often find artistic inspiration in scientific & brainy stuff, tho. They offer as good an inspiration as any other source, I reckon.

I kinda dig how they almost look like prints, yet each is a hand-painted original.

Flora Of Gondwana
No. 001 – 012
Acrylic on paper
11″ x 14″ framed behind glass
$60 each

NEXT MONTH: Clay pieces created in my first-ever wheel-thrown pottery class.