Hardedge/Softedge Paintings | 2018-2023

A three foot square painting on canvas sits on terracotta tiles. Bright swooshes of colors are applied with a palette knife. There are parallel strips painted amidst the paint swooshes. The vibe is flowing, free, brightly colored, slightly unfinished. With pops of yellow.

I talk to my grandmother Sarah, my mother's mother, when I create. I ask her questions. My patterns, abstract geometries, and color play connect me with her art and spirit. On canvas, I use tape to create space. With sustainability and play in mind, the tape peels are removed from the canvas and become the marks of my paintings on paper. This process is slow, careful, and meditative: a subtractive process becomes additive. The balance of precision and play is a constant in my work as an artist, and honors these same elements within my grandmother's quilt making. I create to connect myself to her spirit and honor my own.

Because of the geometric layering in my paintings, and the more subtle color play, I sometimes refer to my paintings as softedge. My goal is to create depth in space and atmosphere, a softness.

This body of work began in May of 2018 when my mom asked me to make her painting. It had been 8 years since I had a focused art practice.

Thirty inch square canvas rests on an easel at JP open studios. The paint colors are bright blues with pops of pinks purples and lime greens. My usual geometric hardedge triangular style with palette swipes of paint underneath.

A 5 foot by 3 foot canvas magically stands upright on frozen snow. Turquoises, rusts, and blues are painted in large wispy cloud-shaped strokes to make the background. A black and bronze stripe cuts from the top left to the bottom right of the canvas. Some of these cloud-like, amorphous shapes on the edge of the canvas have a second layer of rainbow orange and pink stripes made from 1/8th and 1/4 inch parallel lines and a few triangles.

A 24 inch square canvas floats above a snowy ground. The background of painting is blues painted with a palette knife. brighter blues, turquoises, forrest greens, and oranges, painted in stripes made from 1/8th and 1/4 inch parallel lines, create geometric shapes to form the midground. Tiny periwinkle and gold triangles are painted throughout forming the foreground. This picture is taken from the side to show the depth of the canvas has been painted.