The Nysa Gallery:  Color Poems

Though these works are very early, and represent a direction I am done with for the time being,  they do record some of the history behind my current work - experiments with color and texture, particularly.

 

  
 

This Gallery contains  pieces that I feel particularly express that quality Pollan and others have called 'Dionysian Ecstasy'.   And because these works are less structured than my other pieces, they remind me of the tone poems of classical music, hence the term color poem. 

The slot canyon series is inspired by the slot canyons of Anza Borrego State park, in southern California.  These often narrow and winding canyons, carved by storm waters through sedimentary rocks that were deposited by even early storms and flash floods, have a brazen mysteriousness I was deeply moved by.  Within their recesses, the extreme heat of the desert sun is tempered, but at the same time, there's the constant reminder of another extreme weather - flash flooding, and its ability to radically alter the landscape.   The same extremes of heat and sudden rain shape the mountains of the Coachella Valley, excising deep canyons in the still-rising granite.

Sand was mixed with medium and applied to the canvas to create texture and low relief modeling.  These works cannot be reproduced as prints.

  
 

The Slot Canyons of Anza Borrego are amazing places, well worth the time and energy required to get into them. This mixed-media work, using sand and acrylic paint on stretched canvas, expresses the contrasting heat of the desert with the cool shadowy recesses of the slot canyons.

"Slot Canyon I"
Acrylic and Sand on Canvas
16"x20"

Sometimes, deep within the slot canyons, the passageway is blocked, conveniently teasing the explorer with hints of unreachable wonders. Here, the color choices explore again the intrinsic temperature difference of these canyons, while reflecting the red sandstones the canyons are carved into.

"Slot Canyon II"
Acrylic and Sand on Canvas
16"x20"

The changing light as day progresses alters the colors and textures experienced within the slot canyons. Pink and salmon, red and orange sandstones transform into lavenders and purples as the afternoon edges toward evening.

"Slot Canyon III"
Acrylic and Sand on Canvas
16"x20""

Yet another color poem exploring the interactions of reds and blues, this piece is loosely based on the view of San Jacinto from my back porch, mid morning in late winter.

"San Jacinto"
Acrylic and Sand on Canvas
16"x20"

The appearance, the color, texture, mood of mountains that ring the Coachella Valley changes from hour to hour, day to day and season to season. This color poem captures one of my favorite moments - that point in the course of sunset when the sun has dipped low enough that only the tops of the mountains and hills are lit. As the shadow of San Jacinto covers the foothills, one hillock catches that last blush of the sunset.

"Blush of Evening"
Acrylic and Sand on Canvas
16"x20"

This color poem in umbers and ultramarine is loosely derived from the view of San Gorgonio mountain from my back porch, in late afternoon.

"San Gorgonio"
Acrylic and Sand on Canvas
16"x20"
 

In this painting, the rising sun bathes the San Jacinto mountain and foothills with rose and violet, and the canyon home of the spirit of the Cahuilla shaman Tahquitz, lies wrapped in deep shadow.

"Dawn's Rose-filled Halls "
Acrylic and Sand on Canvas
16"x20"

  
 		  

Go To: Available Pieces from the Nysa Gallery:
    Engraving of Dionysus, link to Color PoemsNysa Gallery: Explorations of Dionysian Freedom      

Portrait of the Goddess Nix, link to Plein Air de Nuit galleryNyx Gallery: Explorations at Night

    
          Purchase Originals or Giclee' prints  
                     

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