Chasm was my second ever piece painting with Gouache and as such it is always near and dear to me. It was harrowing to make with all the color balancing and the conflicting figues. I have referred to it before as a painting of romantic paradoxes. You have here the mermaid in her sea alone but as red as a longing and the winged bat creature blue in his solitude high up with the sun as he screams to be near her. She is looking down whilst he looks upward to her. One of the things I am most proud of is the that it was threatening the entire process to be Two {very skinny paintings}. So the question always arose- is this character looking too independent of the relationship narrative. Now I am happy to say It would not be as strong if it were split. There was a lot of reworking, stepping away and coming back to it to achieve a sense of Unity between these yearning souls of Ocean and Sky and that delicious shrinking space or ‘chasm’ between them…

There were the preliminary sketches for this were so involved for each character that the final 14”x20” Arches paper was my fourth such dedicated to the project. However this being my first ever gallery show I am not counting that and keeping the price as is.

Interestingly the story I wrote with it became more like a poem rather than a linear narrative like the others. That story is meant top go into a book later…

Frame is not included