Environmental Abstract artist MaiYap creates paintings that bring happiness and ecological awareness. Enjoy more of her art by visiting her website.
My love for nature started in the back of my parent’s car on our way to visit the family every weekend in my native country of Panama. Lying down in the back seat, looking up the sky on these long trips, I discovered the clouds, trees and the blowing wind. Trying to convey this feeling of wonder has defined my art from the beginning.
After painting flowers and landscapes for many years, I turned to abstractions to better advocate for earth’s preservation.
My environmental abstracts start with an emotion. Do I feel happy because one elephant was saved today? Or am I deeply saddened when hundreds of acres are destroyed in the Amazon? With these feelings in my heart I start to paint.
Patterns and relationships within the painting start to emerge.
Colors and movements mimic our planet’s cycle in all its wonderful glory. By manipulating pure oils, I am able to capture shapes and effects that appear only in nature.
As if weaving a tapestry with paint, the images are built using a cornucopia of vibrant colors painstakingly applied, stroke by stroke, layer by layer.
There is a point, after I have laid down all the colors, that I freeze. Then I breathe and patiently wait for a message on how to continue. The process is scary and exhilarating at the same time.
By pushing and pulling, digging and scraping, adding and subtracting each of the colors, I am able to create a completely balanced work that can be viewed and hung in any position.
When the work is finished, I “destroy” the image by making deep cuts to dramatize how our planet feels.
Using only palette knives, ten to twelve layers of paint are applied on top of each other to create a dramatic textural effect.
My work is delicate yet strong. My paintings are the perfect merging of my Chinese ancestry and my Latin American roots. They will challenge your senses and bring happiness to your soul.
Artist MaiYap invites you to follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Your vibrant paintings almost look like stained glass.