In English, the word cradle refers at once to baby cradles and to cradle boards used in encaustic, oil, and mixed-media painting.
Before my son was born, I fabricated 18 of these cradles, one for each year of his coming childhood from found wood and discarded children’s furniture. I permanently adhered leftover canvases donated by other artists on each panel, and through successive stages of sanding and liquid painting, transformed each of these gifts into a new artwork. In this series, most of the color comes from the donated substrates and my additions are in white paint, black ink, and various shades of gray.
Cradle No. 06, 10, 12, 13, 14 acrylic and mixed media on found sanded canvas/linen on handmade plywood cradles, 33 cm x 27 cm. 2021.