Jade (2023) Painting

'Jade (2023)' was created to represent the Jade stone, revered in ancient cultures, as well as today, to access the spiritual world, encourage creativity, and bring luck and prosperity to those who hold it. An amulet of good luck and friendship, Jade signifies wisdom gathered in tranquility, dispelling the negative and encouraging one to see oneself as they really are. This piece was created as a visual manifestation of the stone and all it represents, and is meant to bring those properties into any space in inhabits. The piece was made as a part of a collection in which each painting represents an element of the natural world. The collection visually explores the relationship between movement and structure, and holds both of those opposite qualities equally and brings them together through the masking technique. Each layer is created using an impressionistic style, which is chaotic and emotional. When the layers are combined the technique used creates clean lines and structure, merging different movements together. The concept is that the whole picture is only created when emotions and impressions meet structure, and that holding two seemingly-opposite qualities simultaneously is what makes something worthwhile and beautiful. This mirrors the way we as people interpret the natural world. On one hand, the entities exist within themselves alone. But it is our projection of value and human thought onto those elements that make them meaningful to us, and create the larger ideas we have about nature and natural elements.