The Collective: Tina's Maple Leaves & Abstraction

https://youtu.be/dGEVX8wTDB8Dear Laura,I made a little video of our most recent works from The Collective.  Inspired by our talk in Asheville a few months ago, I reflected on the visual conversation going on in these artworks. I also went back and read our letters in the book we mail back and forth.  These ten pieces represent about a year of work.I am interested in how our words AND art inspire new work.  It would be a good exercise, in a few years,  to note when and how one connected series ends and a new one begins.  Initially, when I received your newest abstract painting, I thought we were starting a new conversation (maybe we are) because it didn't seem to connect with the earlier work.  But as I spread out all our work and read our letters I now see you are creating beyond the literal and into the metaphorical.  This is what I was referring to about observation drawing in my previous letter.  Can realism be abstract?  Can abstraction be realism?  Perhaps this conversation is between the artist and the viewer.  When I look at the abstract work of Josef Albers, Mark Rothko, and Helen Frankenthaler I feel more than think.That feeling is real....therefore realism, right?So with these thoughts dancing around in my mind, I began creating.  I incorporated a few colors from your most recent abstract piece and added it to the negative spaces of the maple leaves.  I used the maple leaf inspired by my earlier maple tree seed drawing.  We don't get the fall color as you do up north.  I miss it!Tina