After years of painting, I finally narrowed down my list of “Things I Love”, and I also decided I wanted them all on one painting, together! (In the hopes of creating something harmonious along the way.)

First, the loon makes me think of my mother - she collects ducks, and they are everywhere in my parents’ home in France. It used to drive me nuts, but now that an ocean separates us, I think of her everytime I see a duck.

The yellow dock make me think of the an “avancée jaune dans l’eau.” I’ve always loved the color yellow, because it’s the color of the countryside in France. And the fact that it ventured out into the water, a mix between earth and water, yellow and blue, represents a perfect harmony.

The collage in the background make me think of my first love before painting: fabric! I love running my hands through cloth and material, the feeling I get when I touch texture. This painting is made with a thicker paper overlaid with a thinner, transparent paper. I loved how the thin one would wrinkle with the glue, and recreate the movement of water.

Finally, the green grass made me think of the french countryside (again!), the color of the fields. So when I had the crazy idea to put all those things together, I didn’t care about the realism and perspective, only the harmony created in the painting by putting these four things together.