Jewels Series Now Complete

Now that “Jewels: Blue-Green Girl, Boat” is finished, Jewels is complete. There are twelve diptychs in this collection, one for each major stop on the color wheel. As a visitor to the studio said, “It’s rainbow!” Each panel in a two-panel set has a small and concentrated instance of the subject color, and for a final touch I hand paint gloss medium on this color to add punch. These are wee pieces, each panel is 4 inches square and about 1.5 inches deep, with the sides painted in a shade of the featured hue. Each image rhymes with its partner, and not just because of the color. I like to play with  categories here, as elsewhere, especially “natural” and “human-made.” In “Blue-Green,” “Girl” is sitting in a tree, and “Boat” is on water; which is more natural? I am also thinking about places: “Girl” is in Baltimore and “Boat” is in Venice, both places in various kinds of crisis. As another visitor said the other day, “Interesting. You look at them and they’re completely different, but they’re not!”

Jewels, all 12 arranged so that each pair vertically aligns with its complement.
Jewels, all 12 arranged so that each pair vertically aligns with its complement.