a life together

Several months after painting Stripes the need to investigate colour returned. I had been intrigued by the energy that comes from juxtaposing two opposites: edging a lime green with a deep orange, cutting through a stormy blue with a custard yellow. Now I wanted to investigate further how closely related colours work together. This time I kept to a palette of predominantly blue and green and had the stripes running horizontally: it felt like water. 

The Stream                                  acrylic on canvas, 100cm x 50cm

I was commissioned to paint a piece as a wedding gift. When two people make a commitment to build a life together whatever lies ahead, I feel echoes of what I experienced when my children were born. (See the maternal tug blog 06.02.12) Difficulties and successes, grief and joy, problems and solutions all waiting in the future to be faced together. The flowing water metaphor seemed perfect for expressing how we are affected by events in our lives, and how our lives are shaped by what happens to us. 

I enjoyed revisiting the notion of hue on hue: a clear swimming pool beneath a layer of smokey duck egg, wet summer grass laid over mushy peas. The energy is calm this time, quiet and strong.

The parallel lines on the left of the painting set the colours out. They represent what we hold dear, the way we know we want to live our lives, the things we know we will never compromise. Some are broad, some are narrow and all are important. The thin threads give edges and structure, supporting and making sense of the wider bands. About half way down there is a silvery lavender line, its clarity cuts through the soft colours of the stripes on either side helping to define them. As it flows along the piece it broadens and undulates, responding to what is happening above and below, towards the end it is wide enough to enclose another shape and flow around it.

When we visit river banks and beaches my children and I look for heart-shaped stones,  captivated by how such a man made design can be found in natural objects. As the bands of colour flow along in The Stream they are met by golden shapes, stones. Most have the smooth roundness of water worn pebbles, some are heart-shaped. Despite varying in width and intensity of colour, none of the stripes disappear as they accommodate the stones in their path. I think we do hold on to our fundamental beliefs whatever difficulties we have to overcome or delights we unearth along the way.

The stones which form their own band of colour around them represent those times when something comes into our lives which brings us a deeper understanding of the way things work, in effect adding another strand to our stream. I chose a gold colour for the stones, because as I get older I realise that everything that happens in life, be it difficult or comforting, is a gift.