Abstract Emotion

Prussian Letter

2024 · Oil and gold leaf on canvas · 40 × 50 in (102 × 127 cm)

$9,600

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Deep blue weather breaking over an ivory horizon, gilded where the light gets through.

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Collection: Abstract Emotion
Year: 2024
Medium: Oil and gold leaf on canvas
Surface: Cotton canvas, gallery stretched
Dimensions: 40 × 50 in (102 × 127 cm)
Framing: Unframed; floater frame in antique gold available on request
Edition: Original
Reference: AG-002

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The Story Behind the Painting

Why this painting exists

I painted this the week I finally read a letter I had carried unopened for two years. The gold is not decoration; it is the part of the news I did not expect to be grateful for.

Inspiration

Personal memory, the particular light of the American South, and the classical European interiors I studied as a student.

Colour & Symbolism

Blue holds distance and memory. Peach and rose hold the body and the present moment. The deepest maroon is grief, used sparingly and never at the centre.

The Creation Process

Oil and gold leaf on canvas, worked in thin layers over several weeks. The composition shifted more than once before the final resolution.

Artist Reflection

When I stand in front of it now I feel the same quiet I felt the morning it was finished — a little exposed, and glad of it.

Message to the Viewer

I hope you recognise something of your own life in it, even if you cannot name what it is.

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