I had a "moment" about 15 years ago while visiting the Picasso Museum in Barcelona. There were so many paintings. At one point I walked through room after room after room packed with paintings of pigeons.Then room after room of variations of Las Meninas. Seeing all of those works of the same subject felt like proof of genius--a need to figure something out and understand it completely. It made me love and respect Picasso for his tireless drive to paint.
I am not even going to begin to compare myself to Picasso. Not even for a second. However, knowing that he painted the same things over and over again has allowed me to give myself permission to do the same. My reasons are less about a needing to fully understand something from every possible angle. Instead, I go back to the same subject because I have already gotten to know it well after having painted it before and I am not always ready to let it go.
Reaching Closure is the title I gave to this painting. It represents the end of a long winter. In late March the sunlight is so intense. Snow starts to melt in the afternoons. Even though the temperatures can still be really cold, you can often feel the warmth from the sun on your face. You remember how much you love that ball of fire and are filled with hope because you know that spring is going to come, the winter will end and soon the world will be green again.
The sky was never yellow, but it feels yellow. Hints of green can be imagined.
I love that painting, it has always been one of my favorites.I cried the night I sold it (although I am please with where it ended up).
I used those two trees to make my first color woodcut.
I painted them again about a year ago, changing many things from the first one, but keeping, and intensifying, the yellow.
I made another woodcut, also titled Reaching Closure. This one is an eight color reduction print.
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