tilke elkins

earth, wood, place: color collaborations

these works represent a period of physical exploration of specific places and paintings made in conjunction with the gathering of physical experience. i eschewed synthetic pigments and store-bought surfaces entirely and pushed the limits of a nature-based palette, seeking to fulfill my longing for the luminous brilliance of familiar synthetic colors. i painted on found and reclaimed wood with a heavily textural grain, using colored earth, stones and plant pigments: green river stones, purple hematite, grey beach clay, desert redrocks, oregon grape sap -- each with their own memories and individual textural qualities. in the search for places to dwell in, i gravitated to places where distinctions between the human-made and the naturally-occurring blurred.