Mist

Mist by Monika Ruiz
Oil on canvas and wood
48″ x 36″ x 1″

“Mist” is part of a series of paintings that I started in 1998 when I returned from England to Colombia. I had started painting jungles in England as a way to ameliorate my homesickness, but this particular series was painted in the Heliconia garden of my art teacher, Libe de Zulategui y Mejia in Medellin. My original intention was to recreate Degas’ experience of painting the same subject over and over again, but I revised this by painting the same subject with a different view and new colours to give each a different mood and significance. For example, “Passionate Jungle” use red shades to convey its meaning, “Awakening Jungle” concentrates on pale blues and greens, and “Fire Jungle” used blues and oranges to portray a burning jungle. “Mist “ was the only one of this series in which I stepped back to capture the whole view, letting the painting step beyond the limitations of the frame.