This is the finished painting of Tower Arch, oil/canvas, 40" x 30". It is the largest completed work to date in my Block Series. I also have two more larger works on the easel right now that I hope to share with you in the next week or two. I'm excited to start having some larger pieces to show, because a selection of paintings from the Block Series will hang in two upcoming exhibitions this spring and summer (more details to come). Most of my work is in the 12" x 16" to 18" x 24" range, so breaking through the 2 feet marker is very exciting for me. I have always believed that the expressionistic, abstracted still lifes in this series would benefit from larger scale. There is something more monumental about a block construction when the blocks are larger than life. Scattered cubes, balls, arches, etc. on the floor are scaled for children, not adults. When these building materials are inflated in a painting hung at eye level for the viewer, nuances of form and meaning come to light.
Tower Arch was inspired by a photo that my sister, Paige, sent me of a similar construction. It was built by a student in her pre-kindergarten class during block playtime at school. On a regular basis, Paige sets aside time for her students to create with a variety of building materials. They can stack and pile, line up, bury in sand...whatever their imaginations cook up! As basic as these blocks may seem to the adult eye, they are a rich world of exploration for children. Two cubes, a rectangle, and an arch become a house where "baby sleeps" and "Mommy cooks supper" and a couple of cylinders and some rectangles becomes a fire truck. When I saw the photo of a stack of arches bending precariously in one direction, I knew I had found the subject for my first larger scale block painting. Tower Arch is a study in color. I incorporated more hues in it than in previous paintings to focus on the brightness of play and creativity. The intensity of the colors is all the more striking against the strong white background.
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