Charting the deep
The First One
Jane’s Painting, December 2022, oil paint and gold leaf on paper,
17 x 14 inches
Jane’s Painting, a commission, was finished in December 2022.
It was the catalyst for a two-year series of paintings about humanity’s individual and communal history in the world. The first twelve paintings that followed range in size from one to four individual 10 x 10 inch wooden boxes (total of 24 individual boxes). These were followed by thirty-six oil paintings on paper which were painted in groups of five, totaling six complete paintings. Six individual paintings, refusing to become part of a larger story, still stand firmly on their own.
Charting the deep
Does a slot exist to fit into,
revealed in a landscape,
unveiled far out at sea,
shifting from visible to invisibility again—
sought-after places hiding
in plain sight?
Does earth’s shallow surface hold us fast,
trapped distractedly, unconvincingly, in shadows
deep as the grave,
where light is murky
and movement is stalled
and air is too stifling to breathe?
Hold your breath and dive deep,
down and down until you are lost,
blind, cold, and finally at peace,
suspended in the not-knowing
where questions and answers are useless
and you are enough.
Be newly brave,
resurface to sight and warmth
and never-ending chaos.
Charting the deep I #1, 2018-79,
oil paint on wood, 10 x 20 inches
Charting the deep I #2, 2018-19,
oil paint on wood, 10 x 20 inches
Charting the deep I #3, 2018-19,
oil paint on wood panel, 10 x 20 inches
Charting the deep I #4, 2018-19,
oil paint on wood panel, 10 x 20 inches
Charting the deep I #5, 2018-19,
oil paint on wood panel, 10 x 30 inches
Charting the deep I #6, 2018-19,
oil paint on wood panel, 10 x 10 inches
Charting the deep I #7, 2018-19,
oil paint on wood panel, 10 x 10 inches
Charting the deep I #8, 2018-19, oil paint on wood panel, 10 x 40 inches
Charting the deep I #9, 2018-19,
oil paint on wood panel, 10 x 10 inches
Charting the deep I #10, 2018-19, oil paint on wood panel, 10 x 20 inches
Charting the deep I #11, 2017-18, oil paint
on wood panel, 10 z 20 inches
Charting the deep I #12, 2018-19, oil paint on wood panel, 10 x 20 inches
Whose voice, whose voice, whose voice? 2023
Oil paint on paper, 11 3/8 x 8 1/4 inches
Oil paint on paper, 11 1/2 x 8 5/8 inches
Oil paint on paper, 11 inches x 7 3/4 inches
Oil paint on paper, 11 1/4 x 8 inches
Oil paint on paper, 11 5/16 x 8 1/4 inches
The silence in my ears thundered, 2023
The silence in my ears thundered, 2023,
oil paint on paper, 11 1/4 x 8 1/4 inches
Before I was born I heard it, oil paint on paper,
11 1/4 x 8 1/4 inches
The abyss beckoned, 2023, oil paint on paper,
11 1/4 x 7 3/4 inches
Packed together, shaken dwn, overflowing, 2023,
oil paint on paper, 11 1/4 x 8 inches
Light on the water, light in the sky
rock-a-bye baby, It ends now. I sigh,
2023, oil paint on paper, 11 3/16 x 7 inches
The creepy witch that no one hears is inching down the hall, 2023
Oil paint on paper, 11 7/8 x 8 inches
Oil paint on paper, 11 10/16 x 8 1/16 inches
Oil paint on paper, 11 1/2 x 8 inches
Oil paint on paper, 11 3/8 x 8 1/4 inches
Oil paint on paper, 11 1/4 x 8 1/4 inches
Some moments you catch it, 2023
Oil paint on paper, 11 5/16 x 8 5/8 inches
Oil paint on paper, 11 1/4 x 8 1/8 inches
Oil paint on paper, 11 1/8 x 8 inches
Oil paint on paper, 11 2/8 x 7 7/8 inches
Oil paint on paper, 11 1/8 x 7 7/8 inches
Maybe, maybe not, 2023
Oil paint on paper, 11 3/4 x 8 1/8 inches
Oil paint on paper, 11 7/8 x 8 3/4 x inches
Oil paint on paper, 11 x 7 3/8 inches
Oil paint on paper, 11 1/4 x 7 7/8 inches
Oil paint on paper, 11 5/8 x 8 1/4 x inches
The so-called wisdom of age, 2023
Oil paint on paper, 11 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches
Oil paint on paper, 11 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches
Oil paint on paper, 11 x 8 1/16 inches
Oil paint on paper, 11 1/4 x 8 1/8 inches
Oil paint on paper, 11 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches