Palm Readings

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Award Recipient

Vancouver Art Attack Award – Honourable Mention

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• Palm Readings Project
• Paintings: watercolour on canvas
• work on paper
• Palm Readings Book
• Bio + artist statement

This thesis project named Palm Readings is informed by entangled topics that take up plein air painting, watercolour as a primary medium and the relationship of colour to the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico.

Research questions:

How can plein air painting in the Caribbean function as a form of deep acknowledgement of place?

What is the potential of watercolour as a contemporary artistic medium?

How can colour represent the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico and its culture?

I feel like every time I paint, I am asking a question through materials and my artistic method. In this sense I wonder if watercolour is both a noun and a verb. Working with this medium is slippery. It is often dismissed as; not serious, for amateurs, as studies for final paintings in a different medium or as a means to draw rather than paint. Historically, watercolour has been associated with the term ‘Sunday Painters’ which is associated with hobby painters, painters that paint in their spare time or are not academically trained.While developing my Thesis Project it became very important to demonstrate that the medium of watercolour has the capacity to stand on its own, that it is at the level of any other painting medium, that it can function on many surfaces and be a final work and most importantly, watercolour is a medium with the capacity to make innovative artworks in contemporary times.

Work on paper

Accordion Books made outside in the landscape in the island of Puerto Ric

Plein Air Painting

My artistic method evolves directly from my research questions. I am inspired not only by the history of plein air painting but what it might mean in this contemporary moment. Having spent so much of my formative years in the Caribbean, it is not surprising that I paint outdoors as much as I do. Learning about plein air painting once I left the island has given my practice a context both in terms of art history and Puerto Rico. Plein air painting has made me more aware of my homeland, its history, the climate, and the cultural atmosphere. Working with this method, I have become more aware of what and how I add to a particular location. In this way, I am responsive to what the  landscape adds in my development as a person and as a painter. 

Palm Readings Book