The reduction to abstraction in my paintings focuses the gaze on the rhythmic patterns of trees in forests and water surfaces, much like my experience hiking. Striding along a path in the woods, my senses are heightened and I am freed from the complexity and chaos of daily life, engaged in a purely visual experience. In the midst of the forest, my mind wanders, feeling the changing rhythm of the wide and narrow trees, the negative spaces, bark patterns, vertical and inclined trunks, and the secret depths of the forest that I cannot reach. Pausing by a pond or stream, I study the ripples, reflections, shimmer, and windblown surface of the water, sometimes punctuated by raindrops, creating outward spreading ripples disturbing the calm.
Katherine
Steichen Rosing, March 2013
