Niagara

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This painting is currently on exhibit at the Clark Center for the Arts, Scarborough. The Akin Winter Exhibition runs Dec 3 - 18, 2022.

Niagara is a very large, layered, expressive painting. The size alone makes the piece difficult to photograph, but the soft, transparent layers of color are nearly impossible to capture accurately. Please come by the show or for a studio visit to see this work glow in person :)

The After. 2022

The New Normal. It's all a blur for me, these years home, the isolation.

But my painting is dramatically different. These new paintings glow.

As an abstract painter, I generally have no idea how the final painting will look - my process relies on the nature of my movement.

I have a strong interest in organic forms and gravity, these are my most powerful tools. I slowly build layers, controlling what I can, but also seeing how my marks are influenced by water, gravity, my movements. I actively observe change, I respond in the moment. My action helps create the composition, but the final painting is a result of my interaction with my work, not my control of it.

There is always a moment when I look and say, oh no, did I just muck it up? Is it ruined? And then I change course, improvise, find a path forward. I see my work as a metaphor for our lives, our place on the Earth. We cannot control everything in our environments - but we do have the power to affect positive change. We can change course, be a force for good, for strength and beauty. We can seek to control what we can, and limit our harm. We can find a path forward.

Where it's been: This painting is currently on exhibit at the Clark Center for the Arts, Scarborough. The Akin Winter Exhibition runs Dec 3 - 18, 2022.