DEBRA CLAFFEY: Mixed Medium
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.
Winter 2023:
"A Winter's Tale"
"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"
"Scratched Rib"
Oil, cold wax on paper on panel 
"Wasn’t It an Aster I"
Oil, monotype and encaustic on panel |
"Ribbed Dawn"
Oil, cold wax on paper on panel 
"Wasn’t It an Aster II"
Oil, monotype and encaustic on panel |
"Wasn’t It an Aster III"
Oil, monotype and encaustic on panel
Oil, monotype and encaustic on panel
"Blue Hydrangea VI"
Encaustic monotype on paper |
"Blue Hydrangea I"
Encaustic monotype on paper |
Singing Tree Series:
