Submerged Passage IV

Mixed media: acrylic, charcoal, chine collè on handmade paper.

36x36"

Beginning without a fixed image, this work developed through layered applications of acrylic paint, charcoal, pastel, and process-driven mark-making. Unlike earlier works in the series, the composition began with successive layers of Mars black, establishing depth and structure before lighter forms gradually surfaced through erasure and material response.

Using a restrained palette of burnt umber, Mars black, titanium white, and blue, the surface was built through unconventional tools including netting, steel implements, and direct hand application. Two suspended forms emerge within the composition, suggesting movement through a shared submerged space.

The larger scale allows the atmosphere to expand outward, where negative space becomes as active as the forms themselves. The image exists between organic observation and abstraction, balancing enclosure, drift, and quiet tension.