large

click on thumbnails below to view larger scale album. pieces with an asterisk* following the title are still available as originals.

These big acrylic, watercolor and sumi ink paintings started because my partner said this about a smaller piece I painted for his birthday: "I'd like to see that line quality life-sized." I thought about it, and realized I hadn't revisited my earliest inclinations to paint real big in a while (when I lived in Brooklyn surrounded by bigness-- buildings, energy, graffiti-- I painted big often).

Being the salty competitive sort of girl I am, I rose to the challenge to paint bigger. These pieces are all 42" x 72" and are painted on heavyweight watercolor paper. I've sewed curtain-like tabs to the tops and bottoms so they hang like tapestries on dowels.

Because these pieces are bigger than me, when I paint them, I get the same feeling of physicality I used to get the when I made spray-can murals. Not only does the size require movin and shakin, but outlining in sumi ink makes the lines quick and undeliberated. I chose this style for some live painting demos I did this fall at Spruce Peak Realty on Mt. Mansfield (see Pack Light and 1956 Detroiter) and found the big pieces also really draw people in.

These pieces also forced me to make a big easel. Painting on an easel just makes me feel like an official painter. It also keeps the paper cleaner. You should try it.