Description
An Emerging Landscape to go into
Some landscapes invite us to observe them. Others invite us to enter.
Emerge Into – Santiago Canyon Re-Imagined began with a plein-air painting completed in Orange County at Santiago Oak Regional Park, where the original composition already possessed a strong sense of movement drawing the viewer into the landscape. Rather than simply reproducing that experience, this painting continues it through a layered mixed media process that explores how depth and space can evolve through different forms of mark-making.
Re-Imagining the Landscape
The work developed from earlier observation through drawing, monoprinting, acrylic painting, pastel, and stencil mark-making on archival Arches watercolor paper. Each stage introduced new visual questions that could only be answered by responding to what already existed on the surface. Rather than covering previous decisions, every layer remains visible, allowing the history of the painting to become part of its final image.
Creating an Illusion of Depth and Space
One of the central challenges of this work was preserving the illusion of depth while introducing stencil marks that can easily flatten pictorial space. Instead of functioning as decorative patterns, the stencils became another expressive form of mark-making, working alongside brushwork, drawing, and printed textures to reinforce the sensation of moving through the landscape. Solving that problem became part of the painting itself, revealing new ways that space, rhythm, and movement can coexist within a contemporary landscape.
The On-Going Investigation
Part of the Re-Imagined Landscapes series, this painting reflects an ongoing investigation into how observation, memory, and process continually reshape our experience of place. Rather than depicting Santiago Oak Regional Park exactly as it appeared, it records the discoveries made while re-imagining it.
Original Mixed Media
Monoprint, acrylic, pastel, and stencil mark-making on archival Arches watercolor paper. Archivally mounted and ready for framing.
View more works in my Re-Imagined Landscape Series in our Mixed Media Gallery.
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