Description
A non-representational abstract painting
Renewing is a 16×20″ non-representational abstract painting on canvas created during my Artist in Residency program at The Art Center in Dover, New Hampshire.
This painting belongs to the residency body of work, Attending To Light, where I explored light as something interior ~ something that emerges from within rather than something applied to the surface.
Because of this approach, the paintings developed through intuition, layering, and response. Color, texture, and mark-making gradually revealed moments of illumination within deeper fields of atmosphere.
Renewing captures the moment when light breaks through atmosphere. Earthy greens and browns create a surrounding field that feels like the depth of woods and forest. Then sudden bursts of yellow, coral, and warm orange ignite across the surface, where my palette knife fractures the color into energetic passages, allowing the light to push outward through the darker environment. Because of this movement, the painting carries the feeling of renewal ~ the moment when energy returns, brightness reappears, and the world feels alive.
Building Texture and Exploring Interior Light
In this non-representational abstract painting, palette knife work creates fractured passages of color that allow light to feel alive rather than decorative. The knife breaks the paint into irregular shapes, which builds texture and allows multiple colors to appear within the same passage.
Because of this structure, the brighter tones feel as if they are breaking through the darker atmosphere rather than resting on the surface.
The composition creates a visual movement across the painting. Cooler passages appear first. Then the eye arrives at a central ignition of warm color. From there, fragments of interior light continue outward through the surrounding field.
This movement allows the viewer to explore the painting slowly, discovering new moments of color and texture over time.
Reflective Details
Renewing also contains subtle reflective passages within the surface, where small touches of pearl pigment appear within purple bits.
These reflective elements are not immediately visible. Instead, they appear briefly when light strikes the surface from certain angles, creating small flashes that feel almost like sparks of light within the darker field. When the viewer spends time with the painting, these reflective details become moments of discovery.
Emotional Presence in a Living Space
The deep greens and earthy browns provide grounding. These tones create a calm atmosphere and allow the painting to anchor a space rather than compete with it.
The warm yellows and oranges introduce energy and warmth as the light emerges from within darker color. This emotional presence feels reassuring and balanced.
The result is a visual presence that brings both calm and vitality into any living space. Renewing becomes a painting that rewards attention while maintaining a peaceful atmosphere.
Exhibition
The Art Center in the Artist in Residency Exhibition from March 9 – April 30, 2026
Title: Renewing
Series: Residency, Attending To Light
Medium: Acrylic mixed media
Substrate: Canvas
Size: 16 × 20 inches
