Waterline Study 2, 2023

9" x 12" Watercolor on Paper; unframed.

In Waterline, a gnarled, multi-faced tree grows from a murky swamp, its expressions solemn and watchful. Beneath the water’s surface lies a mass of submerged, mask-like heads—an unsettling reservoir of forgotten voices. A lone human face peers from a hollow in the trunk, suspended between the world above and the sedimented past below. The painting examines the boundary between consciousness and buried memory, showing how the self sits atop a vast submerged history. It’s an image of psychological stratification, where the waterline becomes the threshold between what we acknowledge and what we refuse to confront.

Painted during live stream session; November 2023.