Leaving the Past

Completed in 2004

9" x 12" x 1.5"

Acrylic on stretched canvas

The words read: "Growing up is not an event or a phase or a goal.  Growing up is a lifetime."

(Details)

(The deep, 1.5"  staple-free edges are painted black allowing you to display this piece unframed if you like.)

Leaving the Past is a really important piece.  I am passionate about growth and maintaining a hopeful view of the world.  This is often difficult work for me.  The hardest part is forgiving myself and others for the past.  Too often, I imagine forgiveness and growth to be something I do and then proceed from.  An action.  So I am always surprised to find that work still with me.   This painting continues my interest in the subtle inclusion of language in art with two phrases painting in tiny letters in the sky.  They read, "Growing up is not an event or a phase or a goal.  Growing up is a lifetime."  These gorgeous animated trees are already like old friends to me.

The grassy hill, the trees, the boat and the ocean were first built up with fine-grade ceramic stucco before they were painted giving this piece a terrific tactile variety of textures.  And then came the color.  Leaving the Past is a finger-painting.  I applied paint right from the tubes to the canvas and then blended colors by patting the canvas with my fingertips (like playing a drum).  It is a wild, messy process that has resulted in paint on every surface in my home and every item of clothing that I own.  Literally.  I buy paper towel in bulk and keep a bucket of water next to my easel so that I can clean up between colors.

 

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