"Rigidity and Flow" - 6x6 inch oil painting

“Rigidity and Flow” original oil painting by Melanie Fenton - 2023

This series of teal and golden paintings was all-encompassing to paint. I have named each of the paintings using two carefully chosen words joined by “and”. As I grappled with how to express the feelings that came up in the making of these paintings I realized that there was a theme of duality; feeling two things at once, seemingly conflicting, but actually not.

I have also paired the following Mary Oliver poem with the series, because I find she is in my head often and her words always just seem to fit.

You are standing at the edge of the woods

You are standing at the edge of the woods
at twilight
when something begins
to sing, like a waterfall

pouring down
through the leaves. It is
the thrush.
And you are just

sinking down into your thoughts,
taking in
the sweetness of it—those chords,
those pursed twirls—when you hear

out of the same twilight
the wildest red outcry. It pitches itself
forward, it flails and scabs
all the surrounding space with such authority

you can’t tell
whether it is crying out on the
scarp of victory, with its hooked foot
dabbed into some creature that now

with snapped spine
lies on the earth—or whether
it is such a struck body itself, saying
goodbye.

The thrush
is silent then, or perhaps
has flown away.
The dark grows darker.

The moon,
in its shining white blouse,
rises.
And whatever that wild cry was

it will always remain a mystery
you have to go home now and live with,
sometimes with the ease of music, and sometimes in silence,
for the rest of your life.

—

Size: 6” x 6” x 1.5”

Medium: Oil paint on gallery wrapped canvas. Initialed on the front, signed and titled on the back. Ready to hang.

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Copyright: Melanie Fenton retains all rights to the artwork. Artwork may not be resold or reproduced for profit in any way without the artist's written permission.