Cloud Cover

Piece description from the artist

About the Series:

In our quest for understanding, we often look to the natural world around us as a vehicle to make sense of our inward struggles. Our own internal chaos seems to be reflected in forests of ancient and newly budding trees, in strands of seaweed that lie along an ocean shore, and, especially, in the random profusion of stars overhead. We look to nature for guidance in the way of signs that we are on the correct path—whether we find it in a shooting star or a fortuitous red sunset (“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight/Red sky in morning, sailor take warning”). We use nature as a metaphor to describe our emotions, projecting our inclinations, intuition, and instincts onto natural incidents, such as an ominous thunderstorm or blustery autumn day. The sky, in particular, we look toward when seeking answers to questions we ask ourselves—or when seeking solace.

For the paintings in the "Dying Star" series, created using various media including gouache, spray paint, flower petals, and eyeshadow, I have used natural celestial phenomena, such as the Horsehead Nebula, as metaphors for my own rich and sometimes overwhelming experience with personal recovery. The chaos in the night sky seemed the best choice to use as a mirror for the opposing forces of joy and horror I have experienced in the past several years. The metaphor is also universal; thus it is able to be understood by anyone who has looked up to the stars to admire them or to search for answers.

Though the subject matter is opulent, the marks sweeping, and the colors rich and elegant, the paintings are small and portable, inviting the viewer to use them as mirrors for their own internal struggles.

About "Cloud Cover":

This piece is one of several I created for the "Dying Star" series (see description above). To create this painting, I used dried ferns and leaves, flowers, and coral to create the spray-painted outlines. The use of gold and pastel colors invokes feelings of richness, dreaminess, and ethereality, a palette inspired by Vaughan Oliver, the artist responsible for creating the Cocteau Twins' album covers who has since passed away. The upward direction of the ferns and flowers is meant to convey both progression and optimism; however, there is also the kind of stagnation that one can see when looking at the movement of plants underwater. They are simultaneously standing still in that they are firmly planted in soil while also moving due to the water flowing around them.