Calypso

Calypso is a painting based on scientific ideas but meant to be purely abstract. The concept was two cells (small independent units of life in your body) contacting eachother in a meaningful way. The green cell on the top and the purple cell on the bottom meet in the middle, with small red highlights indicating the action in the middle. The blue dots represent nucleus of the cell, the epicenter of control.

Technically this painting looks simple but is in fact very difficult. I used the 'paint blob' technique where you drop on a large amount of fluid paint, and then let it dry overnight. The tricky part was ensuring that the purple and green blob did not mix too much, although a little mixing was inevitable and desired, as it provided a bit of harmony at the center. In addition, the blobs needed to dry in a somewhat circular pattern. Somehow I managed to get it right, and once it all dried I put on the pale orange background, the blue centers, and the red and green highlights, which are just barely visible at the interface.

10x11" cold press, 2006