Strength and Sustenance

ACCEPTED into WAA 33rd ANNUAL SPRING ART SHOW, juried by Dan Beck, Hannah Block Community Arts Center, Wilmington, NC, 2015

EXHIBITED at LOUISE WELLS CAMERON ART MUSEUM in State of the Art/Art of the State Exhibition, Wilmington, NC, 2014 -15

2014
Gouache and Italian yellow earth on stretched paper, 100% cotton rag
Included: rustic black frame, UV protective Plexiglass.

"Strength and Sustenance" was created as a response to my friend Kelly's wonderful cooking. An African-inspired Vegetarian Peanut Curry is featured, and the figures, landscape, and pattern-work speak of magnificent, powerful Africa. The work was composed on heavy paper stretched across a wooden frame, like a large drum, resulting in pleasurable percussive sounds as I worked on it. The particular yellow ocher used throughout is "Italian Yellow Earth," a uniquely deep yellow mineral which I applied as raw pigment with my hands. This rhythmic painting celebrates the life-giving essence of nature and food.