The Summer Series
Posted by Kelley Oreglia on
Shop the collection here.
No. 1, 2020
36x60 Acrylic on Canvas
No. 2, 2020
36x60 Acrylic on Canvas
No. 3, 2020
36x48 Acrylic on Canvas
No. 4, 2020
36x48 Acrylic on Canvas
No. 5, 2020
36x48 Acrylic on Canvas
The Smalls
12x12 Acrylic on Paper
In March, like everyone else on the planet, I suddenly had endless amounts of time on my hands while I sheltered in place. Stuck in my apartment, I found myself covering every scrap of paper with doodles and line drawings. I’ve always been an artist, but for years that part of me took a back seat.
In the absence of my normally busy life, I was compelled to put the artist back in the driver’s seat. The only thing I could do to keep myself busy, and my mind calm, was to make things.
In June I decided to fly to California to spend the summer with my family and create a collection of paintings. It’s been about nine years since I’ve completed an entire collection of work. I’ve painted on and off in that time, but I’ve never had the space to work regularly.
I toed the line between planning and improvising. I did a series of 40 sketches to start visualizing what I wanted to do on the final 12x12 pieces, and the 12 x 12 pieces helped me plan out the larger pieces I ended up with. I followed my instincts and a few interesting patterns emerged organically.
First are the faces. These are an evolution of the scrap paper doodles I started back in Boston. I’m constantly looking for new artists to follow on Instagram. Recently I’ve been really into Marcello Velho (@marcello_velho), Octavia Tomyn (@octavia_tomyn_art), and Carly Kuhn (@thecartorialist). Their clean and crisp line drawings have a minimal esthetic with a brazen confidence. I continued my line drawings into the sketches for this project, and they made their way onto a few of the 12 x 12 pieces.
Then there are the abstract pieces. I was really inspired by the work of Hannah Polskin (@hannahpolskinstudio) here. Similar to the line drawings, her work is minimal and intentional. She was my starting point, and my shapes started to evolve into something more chaotic. In the end they were really influenced by landscape. I spent several weeks of this summer at my parent’s lake house in Clearlake, CA. One of my pieces is very similar to the view I spent time looking out at over the water.
Last are the circles. These pieces feel natural to me and where I feel like I’m starting to become reacquainted with my own style. In my last collection I spent months painting squares, mixing something very simple and recognizable with my inclination to make everything a bit abstract. It’s comfortable to fall back on a shape, while letting the rest of the piece fall on the canvas with whatever mood or materials I have around me. I can move wildly by centering myself around a familiar object.
When I look at the collection together, I can see a struggle to rediscover myself as an artist. I had hoped to come out of this with a really cohesive style. Instead, I have three. That’s okay. I’m proud of each of them individually. Did you know that Monet didn’t really start painting until he was in his 40’s, after his wife died? It took a pandemic for me to get started, but I’m glad I’m here. While I hope this collection is well received, regardless of the outcome I’m proud of the work I accomplished.
The final collection consists of twelve 12x12 acrylic paintings on artist’s paper, two 36 x 60 acrylic paintings on canvas, three 36 x 48 acrylic paintings on canvas, and two beautiful vintage ceramic vases I found in California.