"Many Rivers," twelve oil paintings

Thanks to Joe Walentini and his online Galerie Cerulean, I am presenting a new cycle of work in an exhibition I title "Many Rivers." If you will follow the link to the website, please click on the first image of three announcing my show, which will take you to a full page of twelve (you'll need to scroll both horizontally and vertically to see them all). If you click on any one of those, they will all open larger, with captions providing titles, dimensions, etc, in a single column which scrolls vertically.

©2015 Ravenna Taylor, "Springhead," oil on paper, 30 x 22.5 inches

The paintings have been executed in oil paint, mostly on the paper called Arches Huiles, which is formulated for oil paints and solvents without the need for priming. I enjoy this immediacy, and the sensations of paper, the mix of drawing, fluid wash, stain and brushwork, the imperatives of my materials.

The reference to rivers grounds my intention in the dominant feature of the place where I live, as well as my ongoing preoccupation with time, its passage, and the evidences of what changes and what endures. It also refers to the spiritual song by Jimmy Cliff, Many Rivers to Cross, which I was listening to somewhat obsessively in the studio last summer.

I hope you'll visit the exhibition at www.abartonline.com and please give me your comments here, or respond to Joe Walentini, a kind friend and supporter of my work for some long years now! Thank you, Joe.