Oil on linen
50×42
2024

The idea for this painting came in a dream. I had taken photos of my father in law while resting after a hike. My children are playing in a stream in the background and my father in law is reflecting on being a father. The March light was streaming in between the bare trees. About a month later I dreamt that my husband, his son, was sitting on the log with him. At the time, the two men had been exchanging written letters and I wanted to make a painting about the relationship between fathers and sons. 

I made several compositional studies for this painting before landing on the two figures touching but facing away from each other. The tree trunks in the background reinforce ideas of connection, growth and lineage. 

The use of gold paint was inspired by the gold leaf in early renaissance Sienese paintings. From Vulliard, I inverted the idea of painting women in domestic scenes so that they appear to merge into the fabrics and wallpapers of their domestic setting. In my painting, the men dissolve into the outdoors – growing and aging, solidifying and fading –  along with the natural world.

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