Vestiges

Eye Luv U

2008 Watercolor, gesso and graphite on watercolor paper 14.5 x 22″ “Eye Luv U” excavates details from morning rituals with my daughter. I embellish her lunch napkin every day with an eye, then a heart, then U. Brakfast, teenage fashion and fad can be found here by a keen eye. She grow so fast, these images are already artefacts!

Riverside

Watercolor, graphite, colored pencil and gesso on 300 lb. paper 22 x 30.25″ framed 2008 Riverside. Doesn’t it sound idilic? Riverside is the name of the main street I take to get home. Google Earth maps of the suburbs have an uncanny relationship to coral. Ah, suburbia! Wound around this spine are a roseate spoonbill and floating beachballs. Surfaces intertwine with dead coral. These everglades were once a slow moving river of life. With our arrival, the life forms have changed.

Delphinus

Watercolor, graphite, and gesso on 300 lb. paper 22 x 30.25″ framed 2007

Nizdos

Watercolor,graphite, colored pencil and gesso on 300 lb. paper 37.5 x 30″ framed 2007 “Nizdos” is an ancient indo-european word for nest. Literally meaning, “place where the bird sits down.” My resident dinosaur-like iguana fit perfectly into the watercolor abstraction. The same reptile afternoon produced a nest for my studio. Bits and pieces of dog hair and left over screens from the hurricane rebuild were woven in grass and sticks.

Vestige

Graphite and watercolor on 300lb. paper 18.5 x 27″ framed 2007 Vestige was inspired by limestone floors and the coral under my feet. Limestone is one of the models for my visual archaeology series. I pull delicate details from abstraction like an archaeologist uses a pick and brush to excavate remains. The limestone of Florida was formed by sediment left by the Everglades. While flowing southwest, water percolated through shells, decaying wildlife and plants. The flow has been slowed by our roads, farms and development. Florida’s spine is the Everglades, the river of grass. Will stopping it’s flow leave unusual new sediment?

Symbiosis

Watercolor, Graphite, and Gesso on 300 lb. paper 22 x 30.5″ framed 2008 Symbiosis is about the grand pageantry of life. All of nature is interdependent. This drawing is about relationships. Frogs and dragonflies have a symbiotic relationship. Dragonflies eat tadpoles, and frogs eat dragonflies. This visual archaeological dig explores a circular pattern.

Oakwood

Watercolor, graphite, and gesso on 300 lb. paper 22 x 30.5″ framed 2008 Oakwood is the name of my suburban community in Southeast Florida. This neighborhood, like so many in the area, is built on drained Everglades. Creatures that belong there frequent the lawns and pools. Their presence reminds us that we have intruded. The ibis’ are particularly prolific in this area. They feed on bugs in the grass and prance in formation. Interesting that it is illegal to air your laundry in the suburbs. I did it anyway as I watched the parade of The Florida Everglades.

Prurient Apparition

Watercolor, Graphite and gold point on 300 lb. paper 30.5 x 37.5″ framed 2008 Prurient Apparition is John Ruskins definition of an orchid. Prurient means having lascivious or lustful thoughts. John must have felt lust when he gazed upon an orchid. Great imagination! The connection between the structure of the vertebrae and the shape of orchids was pointed out at one of my exhibitions. An older woman spent a long time looking at my piece, “Alluvion.” She called the vertebrates orchids. Prurient Apparition is filled with family trinkets. Pearls and long white gloves decorate women – hopefully to become a prurient apparition. Jewelry and beautiful things are designed to attract. Trinkets seen, orchids unseen? Enjoy discovering your story in Prurient Apparition.

Alluvion

Alluvion Watercolor, gesso, and graphite on 300 lb. paper 2007 The word alluvion means to overflow or flood. Alluvion intertwines water images with mementos and a wild nest composition. I have found two nests in my yard lately. My intention is to express the energy of the found objects in nest building through visual archaeology.

MAVERICK

Watercolor, graphite and gesso on 300lb. paper 30.5 x 37.5″ framed 2008 Maverick is a word that has been flung around the world recently. This piece started as a comparison between fighter jet and migrating bird patterns. While listening to the presidential campaign the word, Maverick” stuck in my mind.

Eye Luv U

Riverside

Delphinus

Watercolor, graphite, and gesso on 300 lb. paper 22 x 30.25″ framed 2007

Nizdos

Vestige

Symbiosis

Oakwood

Prurient Apparition

Alluvion

MAVERICK

Eye Luv U

Riverside

Delphinus

Watercolor, graphite, and gesso on 300 lb. paper 22 x 30.25″ framed 2007

Nizdos

Vestige

Symbiosis

Oakwood

Prurient Apparition

Alluvion

MAVERICK

Vestiges

I once lived in South Florida, where I shared my suburban home with reptiles, tropical birds, and amphibians. The coral beneath my feet once was a slow-moving river. It is now drained to accommodate lawns, streets, and parks.

The Vestige series compares images with similar shapes and differing meanings. Each composition compares a human element with a natural element. The spine is the human center of mobility and function. The Everglades were once a spine of percolating coral and limestone until destroyed by development. These drawings are an homage to the Everglades.

Elizabeth Elvart Reed

Elizabeth Elvart Reed

Vestiges

Eye Luv U

Riverside

Delphinus

Nizdos

Vestige

Symbiosis

Oakwood

Prurient Apparition

Alluvion

MAVERICK

Eye Luv U

Riverside

Delphinus

Nizdos

Vestige

Symbiosis

Oakwood

Prurient Apparition

Alluvion

MAVERICK

Eye Luv U

Riverside

Delphinus

Nizdos

Vestige

Symbiosis

Oakwood

Prurient Apparition

Alluvion

MAVERICK

Vestiges

"Art hurts,

art urges voyages,

and it is easier to stay home."

Alright! Let's Go! Andiamo!