Tomorrow starts a one month show of the paintings that I did for the Rooted in RED project. These are not all of them, but these represent my journey with the pigment red ochre and other natural red pigments. I started the Rooted in RED paintings with the approach of working with the symbol. Using it in a pattern, create a look of beadwork, a craft Ojibwe people did very well. Even though I was using washes of red ochre, I wanted the main subject of the painting to be the shape. To express the triangle and the linear persuasion it holds in the paintings. As I struggled with this approach, I found myself relaxing and using portions of the Rooted in RED symbol to create an abstract though instead of giving the whole image. Once I felt satisfied with the ability to move on from the shape as the subject, I returned to red ochre pigment as the subject. I also brought in more natural red earth pigments, such as turkish red and brazilian red. Both I have used in relation to the red ochre pigment.
Below are the 5 latest paintings. I am extremely excited to see peoples inputs and reactions with this group of paintings. I will also have my studio open for viewers to take a look at what is happening right now in Rooted in RED.
36"x48" acrylic, red ochre on canvas
18"x24" acrylic, red ochre on canvas
18"x34" acrylic, red ochre, turkish red on canvas
20"x48" acrylic, red ochre, turkish red on canvas
48"x48" acrylic, red ochre on canvas
