About Me

Hi, My name is Laura Ewing

I am a non-objective painter who explores the dialogue between deep emotional layers of paint and an overlay of gestures that tell a story and create counterpoint.

The method I use is to build a three-dimensional color space on canvas by putting down successive coats of paint in a certain palette, sometimes textured with wire mesh or masonry tools. I continue building these, wear them off selectively with wet sponge sanders. I use acrylic paints, and vary their opacity, luminescence and reflectivity. They are often opalescent and change color with varied light. The layers begin to link and to talk with one another, becoming bold and sweeping. When this background, which consists of 10-20 layers, is complete, I add another layer on top. This more distinct layer focuses the work, creating a foreground in dialogue with the bottom layers.

I am a Clinical Social Worker and this conversation of foreground and background parallels my work with clients. As a clinician, I help clients integrate parts of the self that have been pushed away into the unconscious background in the wake of trauma. I help bring those parts back into relationship with the conscious foreground of life through a process of dialogue.