Elaine Maxine Studio

My paintings are how I declare my love for nature, celebrating where I live in southern California and the diversity that clings to it. I primarily explore this through painting on canvas. I push the boundaries of the way a painting is made. My approach is to utilize a variety of mediums to create layers of paint. The process is applying oil paint with paintbrushes, using my hands to create opaque dense layered areas, and using water- based paints to saturate fabric with color. I also collage old parts of old paintings which uniquely connects one painting to another.

While painting each brushstroke I’m immersed in an emotional and mystical journey with the natural world. In a sense, it’s as if each stroke of my brush records a tiny representation of my gratitude for nature. The totality of my work representing the love story between my soul and the land we call home. I’m inspired by the many possibilities for representing a sense of the natural world’s abundance through the painting process.

In my oldest memories my hands are covered in mud or paint. I have felt deeply connected to the natural world. I am thankful for the accessibility to natural spaces that have inspired me. With my hands in the mud or covered in paint I have always had passion for being immersed in creating and maintaining relationships of care with the plants and wildlife.

My exploration begins by going back and visiting the same places again and again. Noticing the changes by season, the different forms and phases of plants, and the coming and going of wildlife in the surrounding places. I aim to honor these relationships by painting on site at these locations. Through this exchange it feels spiritual to me in a lot of ways. I have a sense of coming back home when I paint through memory on a larger scale in the studio. Through my work nature is a place of self-discovery, connection and celebration.