This series was painted almost entirely in my bathtub or bathroom. It began as a way to continue painting right after the birth of my daughter. I was surprised to find the constraints of this series, such as time, water, and gravity, helped me focus, and in the end to see in a different way. I found many similarities between this project and painting plein air. As plein air painting is captured in the moment, I wrote the following statement during my painting experience in the interest of capturing the space in my mind.
“Staring at the shadows in the bathtub. The water relaxes, it soothes. I could be in a mossy forest clearing near a brook. A moment removed from time. Through painting what I see this moment is extended. I climb into it.
The bathroom is the center of our living space. It is windowless, the place we would go to protect ourselves from a major weather event. Yet it has its own hermetic landscape. Sometimes very humid and wet, sometimes warm, other times cold. The clothes dryer, soap, diapers all add to its atmosphere. The light changes, it shifts the room. Candles for relaxation, fluorescents for shaving. I can close the door.
Sometimes I paint the bathroom exactly how it is, sometimes I will enhance or change the lighting. I also now paint in the studio, I can close the door here too. I am beginning to paint differently. I can see more in the shadows. Light and dark and colours come to me as sensations when I close my eyes. This helps how I paint in the studio, and how I paint in the studio helps how I paint in the bathroom. “
