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![What Endures, mixed media on paper, 27x42 inches, 2020](https://static.fabrik.io/tld/9113ac8169e58655.jpg?lossless=1&w=720&fit=max&s=00a0b520475a45fa06bc377820d3d5d1)
What Endures, mixed media on paper, 27x42 inches, 2020
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Ruth Hamill, Striving, 2017, intaglio and calligraphy inks, gouache and watercolor on paper, 17x55 inches
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This work directly followed encaustic wave paintings, which are about the fleeting nature of a wave and the illusion it represents. A wave is transient; gone by the time our eyes send the image to our brain.
These works on paper take that idea a step further. They are about the accumulation of these ever-changing moments. I look at each piece as a life caught at some point of being lived. Some are simple, cleanly layered: young. Others are chaotic and deeply layered. All start with a base of watercolor and/or gouache: our givens at birth, such as family, DNA, genealogy and geography. The more complex pieces represent the wild variations of a longer arc of life caught while being lived.