Pat Paxson’s painting ‘Meditation’ began as a layer of charcoal marks and energetic lines on the primed canvas.  Then I stopped to sit quietly looking:  I could see shapes and energies  – in this case a quiet figure of a person (in white) and the energy of the black marks, including the spiral in front of the figure. The dark red was applied as a background color, and some of the black marks were allowed to surface on top of the ‘background color’.

The person in white is the focal point of the painting, but the energy of other marks suggests not only a meditative state but the eruption of other thoughts at the same time – basically levels of energy. The figure’s bowed head indicates she is allowing those thoughts to swirl but is maintaining her mindfulness.

I especially love the rich background color, the accent and rhythm of the whites, the black spiral, as well as the space and depth resulting from the interaction of marks and colors.

Earlier I said:  ‘an indication of the light and the quiet joy’.

Comments always welcome.