Spray

Beautifully chaotic, Judith Skillman’s "Spray" boasts a disparate array of art historical influences. As Skillman points out, the painting is partially inspired by early 19th-century romantic artist, J.M.W. Turner's paintings of wild and whirling, white and grey storms swirling in hectic vortexes over tumultuous oceans. Skillman's approach is far more contemporary and abstract than Turner's. The scoring of the palette knife, thick impasto, and abstract approach to nature is highly reminiscent of virtuoso Abstract Expressionist, Joan Mitchell’s richly painted canvases. Mitchell was a master with the palette knife and captured all of nature’s movement, glory, and chaos in richly painted, gestural works that are as fearlessly abstract as they are faithful renderings of natural forms and the moods they inspire. "Spray" is replete with these qualities and a muted tonal beauty that portrays the raging tempest with restrained grace.