Kathy Blankley Roman
Islands in the Stream (2020)
gesso, charcoal, water-based crayon and pencil on rives bfk paper
10 x 10 in.
NFS
My paintings explore texture and gesture and are about the memories and feelings that are evoked in the process. They help me to process the chaos around me, to find a sense of order, refuge and release. So what happens when I can’t paint?
Islands in the Stream was created in the early days of the Corona virus quarantine when my feelings were still raw with the sudden isolation. An unexpected sense of distraction and disorientation arose in a response to the loss of normalcy and simple human contact. Unable to focus to make a painting, I was making marks into wet gesso, just to do something expressive. When the paper started to peel and dissolve as I scraped into it, the words of the song started playing in an endless loop through my mind as I saw the growing separation and connections within the drawing forming and random little islands started to float away from each other. “Islands in the stream, that is what we are…”
© Kathy Blankley Roman