Campo De Fiori #8

Part of a series of work in which I used the bird-of-paradise flower as a repeated image/symbol to convey rhythm, movement, change, and dynamic color (the flower has several sets of naturally-occurring complementary color harmonies, i.e., red/green and blue/orange).  The title, in Italian, means field of flowers, but also refers to the piazza in Rome of the same name, which is a famous urban open market selling fresh fruits, fish, and flowers!  I've spent a lot of time there, and it epitomizes the change, flow, energy, and cyclic aspect of life.
The shapes tumble across the surface, sometimes falling out of the plane that moves from light to dark (day to night), floating in and out of closed and open spaces.  The work combines the density and strong color charge of oil stick over an ephemeral substructure of graphite line drawing.  The flower is beautiful, but rather than imitate it, it is used to suggest notions of change and growth.

Artist Virginia Paquette is a long-time Seattle artist who has worked in many different mediums, as well as different parts of the world.  She absorbs the images of the flora and fauna of these different locations and re-articulates them through her painter's vision.