PATH

2016 Leftovers & Palette Gremlins Week 29

Mar 29, 2025

A young girl wearing a blue sundress and white strappy sandals takes a step along a raised grassy path in what appears to be a gently flowing maze. Her hair is drawn back into short pigtails. At her side, she absently holds a daisy as her eyes—which seem to be pressed closed—focus downward. Long, soft shadows fall diagonally, deepening in the winding channels between adjacent tracks. In total, the walkways wind and swirl creating a pattern reminiscent of the folds of the cerebral cortex. Drawing attention to the wider gaps, shallow water reflects in highlights of blue. There are no walls or substantial barriers; it would be easy enough to hop across to another trail. — PATH (2016), Acrylic on Panel - 12" x 16"

This painting featuring my granddaughter Seren was done for the inaugural Leftovers and Palette Gremlins gallery. Every week I set out to complete a small piece inspired by paint marks or other found patterns. It was an ambitious goal, and this was among the most finished paintings that came out of the project that year.

LEFT: Green paint patterns that served as inspiration for PATH. RIGHT: Work in progress photo of PATH featuring the young girl and the detail of the wild grassy path she walks along. Despite the detail and finish, the edges of the surface still show white as the background is incomplete. — Paint pattern that inspired PATH and painting in progress

The palette board I started with was all in greens because of the painting I'd been working on at the time. When I started messing with it, my plan was to do a long horizontal piece out of what I saw there. Audrey liked the subject so much she urged me to paint out to the edges.

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