This is part of a series of 3 small paintings: the boat, the water lily and the loon. After creating bigger pieces combining these 3 elements, I wanted to explore each of them separately on different canvases.

So I decided to go back to my first adventure in painting: mixing techniques of collage and decoupage with oil painting. Here, I created an abstract background from cut and glued paper, then, on top of each canvas, I painted the boat, the lily, and the loon in a realistic fashion. Finding the right balance between the motif and the collage was a challenge, because I wanted to make the viewer uncomfortable, but ultimately still happy with the painting.

I really enjoyed experimenting with smaller compositions, it pushed me to keep a creative mindset and think about the elements in my larger paintings as motifs of their own. Have you ever tried approaching something with a smaller perspective, and seen a change?