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Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
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Birgit Steffens, Arctic Serenity, 12x12x1.5 in. acrylic on canvas.
Most of my work begins with nature – not as a subject to depict it in a realistic fashion, but as an abstract representation where pigments move the way water, wind and erosion move: unpredictably, according to their own logic, not mine.
I am endlessly fascinated by the chemistry of it – how different paints, brands and mediums make the colors resist or embrace each other, how a single tilt of the canvas or the substitution of one medium for another can send color spiraling into an entirely different result. The vast array of techniques and tools available for fluid pouring further multiplies the possibilities for the colors to interact with each other and create new, beautiful outcomes.
What keeps me returning to this process is its range. The same fundamental act — letting fluid pigment move — can produce an explosive burst of energy or the soft, gentle sway of water plants in a slow-moving, gurgling creek. It can settle into the hush of an empty arctic landscape or erupt into the chaos of a planet scattering into a thousand fragments. I never fully know what the paint decides to do until it settles, whether it will be a calm, serene rendition or an energetic or even violent one. Once the paint has found its place, it is my job to recognize the design the paint has chosen and to decide how to potentially enhance it with the help of other media, let it be with spray paint, rock, fire glass, seashells, moss and other plants, through gilding or by applying different sheens of varnish in different area as some examples.
During the hot summer days of North Texas, while working on The Last Day in the Life of the Pink Planet with all its vibrancy and dynamic, I was dreaming of a tranquil cold scenery, simple, calming, dreamy. Glaciers in Alaska and Austria that I had visited in the past came to my mind, and I tried to recreate the beauty of snow and ice on a sunny day, the result is Arctic Serenity.
Birgit Steffens, Arctic Serenity, 12x12x1.5 in. acrylic on canvas.
Most of my work begins with nature – not as a subject to depict it in a realistic fashion, but as an abstract representation where pigments move the way water, wind and erosion move: unpredictably, according to their own logic, not mine.
I am endlessly fascinated by the chemistry of it – how different paints, brands and mediums make the colors resist or embrace each other, how a single tilt of the canvas or the substitution of one medium for another can send color spiraling into an entirely different result. The vast array of techniques and tools available for fluid pouring further multiplies the possibilities for the colors to interact with each other and create new, beautiful outcomes.
What keeps me returning to this process is its range. The same fundamental act — letting fluid pigment move — can produce an explosive burst of energy or the soft, gentle sway of water plants in a slow-moving, gurgling creek. It can settle into the hush of an empty arctic landscape or erupt into the chaos of a planet scattering into a thousand fragments. I never fully know what the paint decides to do until it settles, whether it will be a calm, serene rendition or an energetic or even violent one. Once the paint has found its place, it is my job to recognize the design the paint has chosen and to decide how to potentially enhance it with the help of other media, let it be with spray paint, rock, fire glass, seashells, moss and other plants, through gilding or by applying different sheens of varnish in different area as some examples.
During the hot summer days of North Texas, while working on The Last Day in the Life of the Pink Planet with all its vibrancy and dynamic, I was dreaming of a tranquil cold scenery, simple, calming, dreamy. Glaciers in Alaska and Austria that I had visited in the past came to my mind, and I tried to recreate the beauty of snow and ice on a sunny day, the result is Arctic Serenity.