A Touch of Frost

13 in x 21 in

7/2026

My goal for “A Touch of Frost” was to create a Winter-themed picture with a quietly dynamic, crystalline presence—like an abstracted mandala made of ice and refracted light.  I laid down a grid of arcs and straight lines, and then filled them in with steely blues, silvers, and shades of white.  I added a “final touch” of clear glass beads, applied geometrically in the interstices between the white lines that bisect the painting vertically, horizontally and diagonally.  The glass bead inserts remind me of a hoarfrost on a cold wintery morning.   Ironically, the painting was made during a heat wave in the middle of the Summer – perhaps I was longing for cooler conditions when I got inspired to create the piece.  There is strong axial symmetry that invites the viewer to look carefully at the construction of the work.  A central circular motif anchors the composition while surrounding shapes radiate outward in repeating, kaleidoscopic patterns.  The palette of cool blues, blue‑grays, and neutrals is intended to project the sense of a cold winter atmosphere.  The juxtaposition of soft, powdery light blues with deeper, saturated ultramarines produces both calm and quiet intensity, while the interplay of matte and subtly textured areas adds interest. Some facets look smooth and luminous, while others carry a granular or crackled texture that evokes ice or packed snow. The textured planes give the piece a tactile quality, so the eye oscillates between reading this as pure geometry and imagining the surfaces as materials that can be touched. Arcs and wedges sweeping across the surface suggest oscillation or cyclical patterns such as cold, thaw, stasis, and ultimately renewal. “A Touch of Frost” has the feel of a frozen moment in the dynamic passage of seasons.