Held in the Clearing

Held in the Clearing is built from fractured planes. Sharp shards of sage green, pale peach and blush pink break apart across a dark brown ground, folding and overlapping like torn paper, splintered wood, or the collapsing walls of a structure. Fine white lines cut diagonally through the composition, tying the fragments together even as they drift apart.

The title describes the painting's structure. Dense, dark passages crowd the edges, and at the center the pale planes open into a space of light, a clearing formed from the same broken pieces that surround it. The fragments seem to be falling and settling at once.

Each plane is carefully shaded, so the shards read as having real volume and angle. The effect is architectural and spatial, and the canvas feels like a view into a place being assembled and taken apart in the same moment.

The restrained palette gives the work a quiet tension. Soft greens and warm flesh tones keep the violence of the fragmentation gentle, and the painting holds its energy in suspension rather than letting it explode.