i’ve been spending time with one of my new paintings. it’s small, for me, (30x30 inches) and mostly blue.
i’m drawn to the colour because i find blue to be cool and calming…there’s a stillness and softness to it.
however, i feel there’s a melancholic element too, with the depth of sadness seen depending on your current emotional/psychological state.
in addition, to me the painting feels suspended…as though frozen, existing in the space between one thing and another.
this feeling isn’t unfamiliar to me, i’ve felt suspended a few times throughout my life: in between jobs, relationships, and different versions of myself.
those periods tended to be uncomfortable. i found myself yearning for clarity, and wanting to know what happens next.
but these in between stages serve a purpose — they’re part of transition, and not always a sign that something is wrong.
it makes me think of ice. ice preserves, stops movement, and creates a pause.
in a way, i think the solid state of ice is somewhat similar to psychological states.
during their intensity, they feel fixed, frozen, almost as though life has pressed pause and you’ll never feel anything else again.
it’s good to remember that ice is frozen based on external conditions, which when changed, can cause the ice to melt — in the same way that when our life conditions change, our psychological states can change too.
i don’t think my small blue painting is about loneliness, in the same way the diptych is, though there is certainly an element of distance and isolation within it.
i’m still working on and developing the series, but at this moment, i feel the painting captures a frame of the psychological states we find ourselves in when in transition.
as i mentioned, transition is uncomfortable. maybe that’s why there is a thread of melancholy running through it.
yet alongside the melancholy, there’s the stillness…and also a strange sense of peace in the fact that the ‘ice’ won’t last forever.
in my own life, the conditions that have often caused the ‘ice’ to melt, have been meaningful connections.
sometimes, all it takes is for someone to reach out and remind you that transition is temporary.
i’m anticipating what else will unfold in the series, especially now that it’s larger counterpart (36x48 inches) has been painted.
you can view both paintings here befierce.club/gallery
— elise
