The Beginnings of My Next Series

One thing that I've learned from my Sabbatical year is that I keep returning to beloved themes to play with, improve upon or expand the idea. With that being said, a few years ago, I had a series I called "Collection of Plates" that were assemblages of plates that belonged to my mother and I. They were almost like an intertwined story of personal taste, shared history and a balance between identities. 

Lately I've been drawn back into patterns. I find myself covertly snapping photos with my phone while I'm walking through stores, almost as if I"m illicitly stealing swatches of colour for my personal enjoyment later.

I've been thinking a lot about intersecting lives and shared stories. How we all bring our unique patterns and colours to gatherings. These arrangements flex and shift, depending on the reason for the grouping, the mood and environment. One artist that I am very inspired by is Giorgio Morandi, a still life painter who took the same bottles and rearranged them over and over into pleasing compositions. You can spot beloved objects in his various paintings as he includes them in new ways. 

So, part of my next series (I kind of have an overall, big picture theme that I'm still working out in my head) will be a return to plates and vessels. Over the past few weeks I"ve been collecting treasured plates and stories from those around me so I can mix them into my own personal narritive. It's been interesting having all these new guests sitting in my living room. I've been mixing and matching, playing with light and dark backgrounds to bring out new elements for these upcoming paintings. ​