DEBRA CLAFFEY: Mixed Medium
"Capturing Beauty"
"The Beauty of Dead Trees"
For me beauty is more than pretty, pleasant or agreeable.
There is beauty in decay, decomposition, chaos, or frenzy.
Pain can even manifest as beautiful, though ragged and rough.
My association with natural materials in making my images appreciates this "ugly beauty".
I search for the best way to express myself in images using the open honesty of ugly beauty
in all aspects of our lives on this planet, especially in our relationships with other living beings.
There is beauty in decay, decomposition, chaos, or frenzy.
Pain can even manifest as beautiful, though ragged and rough.
My association with natural materials in making my images appreciates this "ugly beauty".
I search for the best way to express myself in images using the open honesty of ugly beauty
in all aspects of our lives on this planet, especially in our relationships with other living beings.
"Forest"
Oil, cold wax on paper, framed 15” x 22"
Oil, cold wax on paper, framed 15” x 22"
"Figuring to Ground "
Oil, monotype collage, oil, encaustic, framed 18” x 18"
Oil, monotype collage, oil, encaustic, framed 18” x 18"
"As Written I "
Encaustic medium, walnut &/or India ink
on handmade paper, framed 10” x 8"
Encaustic medium, walnut &/or India ink
on handmade paper, framed 10” x 8"
"Winter into Spring"
The biological intelligence, fractal design, and stunning beauty of plant systems intrigue me.
The imagery I create from these complex forms is the result of listening with all my senses.
I deconstruct attentive vision into pattern and rhythm, color and form,
then reform it into a personal and unique expression of my awareness.
There is no separation between inner and outer. I am the natural world and it is also me.
I like to combine opacity and translucence, scribbled line against an illusion of depth, thick surfaces
with pale washes, sometimes carving and scraping back to reveal buried layers.
Each piece becomes an exploration of the tensions between flat surface and pictorial depth.
I think of them as orchestrations of light and dark, shape and rhythm.
The imagery I create from these complex forms is the result of listening with all my senses.
I deconstruct attentive vision into pattern and rhythm, color and form,
then reform it into a personal and unique expression of my awareness.
There is no separation between inner and outer. I am the natural world and it is also me.
I like to combine opacity and translucence, scribbled line against an illusion of depth, thick surfaces
with pale washes, sometimes carving and scraping back to reveal buried layers.
Each piece becomes an exploration of the tensions between flat surface and pictorial depth.
I think of them as orchestrations of light and dark, shape and rhythm.
"Reach"
Oil, encaustic, oil pastel, graphite, ink and monotypes on Venetian plaster 24" x 24"
Oil, encaustic, oil pastel, graphite, ink and monotypes on Venetian plaster 24" x 24"
"Vetch Cutting"
Oil, encaustic, monotype, canvas and collage on panel 20" x 20"
Oil, encaustic, monotype, canvas and collage on panel 20" x 20"
"Aster Again"
Plant, oil and cold wax on paper on panel 16" x 12"
Plant, oil and cold wax on paper on panel 16" x 12"
Summer 2022:
Images 12" x 12"
"Wasn’t It an Aster III"
Oil, monotype and encaustic on panel
Oil, monotype and encaustic on panel