My husband’s profound interest and knowledge in the area of physics and science in general inspired Ad Infinitum. Don has tried to explain the “chaos theory” to me with limited success. However, one aspect that struck a cord in my mind was the fact of how many immeasurable and constantly changing surfaces exist in nature - such as a shore line of the sea, the edge of a wave, or the contours of mountain ridges. Don has also discussed fractals with me, and my limited understanding of such phenomenon is that in many natural forms, such as a fern, an ocean wave, or a frost pattern, a small segment of the form is a miniature version of the form of the whole, and each segment can be repeated on different scales infinitely, and will ultimately create the same basic form of the whole. I think that’s an extraordinary phenomenon and so I have tried here to apply it to this visual expression. I utilized the imprint of actual frost patterns in the upper right corner of the painting, applying my color washes outside in 24 degree F. temperatures. I also added in one of my favorite images, that of Hokusai’s The Great Wave, in admiration of it’s fractal-like nature. A last and more simplistic theme of this work is the awesome perspective of the endlessness of the earth’s oceans and mountain ranges, and how they have certain similarities of grandeur.
This artwork is available for purchase.
Ellen Elmes
PO Box SVCC
Richlands, VA 24641-1101
email: ellen.elmes@sw.edu
phone: 276.964.7205
fax: 276.964.7720