Look Closer

14" x 18" x 0.75" Original acrylic painting on stretched canvas. Completed in June 2026. Reference image by Linden Glenhill. Artistic statement about this piece: "Look Closer" is a microscopic photograph of a butterfly's wing 'scales', which is what I see as an abstracted realism. While painting in public, I asked what people thought it was, and everyone saw something slightly different - from ribbons to a mermaid's tail. I've always been fascinated by how iridescent colour is represented in nature, and wanted to better understand how to paint it. For the first time, I wasn't able to mix the colours I saw, and had to include new fluorescent pigments to achieve the brightness I was looking for. Materials: Acrylic paint (Golden heavy body acrylic). Stretched canvas (7 oz 100% cotton canvas, double-primed with gesso. Kiln dried 3/4 inch thick stretcher bars made of solid birch wood. Back stapled. Hanging hardware on back with d-ring and wrapped steel wire.) Archival materials, in order of application: Gotrick canvas, Golden acrylic paint, Golden isolation coat. This artwork was included in the following exhibitions: "Rhapsody in Colour" 38th Annual Members’ Exhibition + Art Sale When: July 4 - 18, 2026 Where: Harcourt House, 3rd floor, 10215 – 112 Street, Edmonton