Thirteen paintings by Ethel Vrana are being shown in the Salon, July 6–30, 2023. Ethel continues to explore organic forms in her paintings by depicting the beautiful variety of shapes, textures, and colors in the botanical world.
This painting is about the fascinating forms of life in prehistoric times. The plant life and animals that existed at that time are so mysterious and beautiful. The technique I used to create this piece is gel print collage. The process starts with printing many shapes and textures on single pieces of paper. After a number pieces are completed, they are assembled into a composition. Many unexpected correlations emerge into unique compositions that are not preconceived. There is an element of chance at work in the formation of the final result.
This painting is the result of restricting my color palette to yellow, yellow orange, green, red, and blue violet. All the colors are of high intensity making a bright, joyful array of colors. Additional interest was created by adding drawings of various shapes and symbols to the background. The result is a striking and cheerful painting. Thus, the title Upbeat.
This painting is included in my collection: Form and Feeling. It was inspired by my desire to create a composition which contained only pure color or pure color plus black. In color theory these colors are called shades. This was a challenge as the painting would have an overall dark tone. However, the result is a striking painting with an assemblage of various shades of colors on a very deep blue-purple background. It is available for purchase on my website.
