Marjorie Moeser

The inspiration for this series began with a boat cruise along the Colorado River through the canyons in Arizona. The rocky walls soared some 600 feet or more from the base of the canyon. The coloration varied from a pale peachy red to deep ochre’s and deep purple hues where crevices delineated the curvature of the rock layers. These bulky layers curved sinuously in and out, with the outer surfaces yielding to the bright sunlight, almost glistening in its brilliance. The intensity of the light on the outer surfaces seemed to maximize the shadows as the planes undulated in and out. Suddenly, the rocky escarpments appeared anatomically like giant human torsos. The bulging convex shapes seemed sensuous and fleshy despite their hard granular make-up. In places, the passage of time and exposure to the elements changed the surface texture and coloration, oxidizing, leaving black linear patterns of basalt. The result of all this expressed itself on my ‘canvas’ (paper) as a rich medley of fully rounded, sensuous shapes, bold rhythms and colorful harmonies. My technique of adding and subtracting colour layers, scraping away pigment only to leave faint traces of the underpainting, fed into this creation of a multiplicity of patina – like surfaces dancing with one another as they surged upward, creating (these) vast canyons.