Big Snuggle - Annie Thompson

5" x 7" x 0.5"
oil on canvas
 
This painting is part of a series of oil paintings that play on the idea of family and intimacy while exploring a personal narrative. This particular painting depicts a precious moment shared between my mother and myself on my 21st birthday. From a lifetime of collected photographs, I inspect the depth of my relationship with my family, primarily with my mother, encapsulated in the boundaries of linear time and physical distance. Familial intimacy is precious and as distance threatens these affections, I investigate how to maintain closeness through the meditative practice of oil painting. The source imagery is derived from a collection of film photographs captured by disposable cameras. Although these cameras have an increasingly obsolete use, the nostalgia connected to them parallels my sentimentality for family. I find a certain quality in many of these photos that deserve being documented in paint; both composition and content contribute to my selections. As a painter, I find meaning in creating color mixes and laying them down on a canvas in relation to other mixes. The flash’s artificial light allows me to translate the source imagery into cool color mixes as I play with the loosening and tightening of my brushwork. This practice of painting allows me to contemplate my subject matter in relation to my emotional connections. These formal aspects combined with the unconventional poses of the figures leave a sprawling disorder, conveying an atmosphere of private moments with those who have the most intimate knowledge of who I am.