Liminal 709 + a story about squares

Liminal 709

Oil and Wax on Panel
8 x 8 inches

A story about the “Liminal” series.

In 2019 I started painting a series of postcards that involved a grid pattern of 25 squares (5 squares by 5 squares) in a space of about 2 x 2 inches. I found a calm while painting these tiny squares in watercolor and finding endless ways to play with patterns and colors. I carried these postcards and small portable watercolors with everywhere. I painted at picnic tables, during hospital overnights with my mom, on airplanes. Painting was what helped me make it through some huge life transitions - selling a beloved business, entering a new and somewhat challenging phase of life with some beloveds, accompanying my mother as she headed off this life stage with Parkinson’s and dementia, caring for both my father and mother as they navigated that separation, my relationship with my husband barely making it through all of that turbulence (thankfully we’re very good now - thank you). Within a couple of years, those postcards were nearing 700 in a numbered series simply titled “Liminal”. Thankfully postcards are very small, and not expensive, and fit into a couple of shoeboxes. I’ve sent them to friends, given many away, but still have several hundred and love every one of them.

As I entered the world of oil painting (surprised, in awe, and completely new to that realm) I found myself bringing in the squares again, this time as a layer or an overlay, but something about them grounds me. I delight in seeing how the squares either create a pattern on their own, or they break up a form or face and create a layer of abstraction and make the whole more interesting to my eye. And that same 25 square pattern still brings me so much joy!


I’m thinking of this body of work in oils as a continuation of the Liminal series, and so they are also numbered. Other supplemental names may come forward. But for now, I am enjoying the way that the numbered series does nothing to give the viewer an idea of content. You can make up your own story. They don’t need a narrative.

As for this little piece - it is absolutely luminous, a quality that I adore, and it glows even more in person. I love art that make me catch my breath - that expression of wonder and awe. This piece does that for me. I hope it uplifts you here, and now, in this moment. 💙