This series is inspired by the varied granitic rocks in Yosemite National Park. Like many visitors to the park, I am awed by the magnificence of the rock—what Kenneth Brower referred to as “dizzying verticalities of stone”—and the history of its formation millions of years ago. The promise of strength, longevity, stillness, and beauty, a sense of well-being and endurance—all of this contributes to what is for me the magic of granite. My love of granite can be traced back to growing up in New England, where granite is ubiquitous but mostly hidden underground.
Granite is mute, but it's surfaces speak volumes. Layering charcoal, graphite, ink, pigment, and paint, I translate in close-up focus the surprising colors and complexity of Yosemite’s unearthed rock and its unique visual language: the layering of natural processes over time, the characteristic textures, striations, and colors of the mineral crystals that form the granitic rock, and lichens and other elements that have left their marks on this majestic landscape of stone.
Granite is mute, but it's surfaces speak volumes. Layering charcoal, graphite, ink, pigment, and paint, I translate in close-up focus the surprising colors and complexity of Yosemite’s unearthed rock and its unique visual language: the layering of natural processes over time, the characteristic textures, striations, and colors of the mineral crystals that form the granitic rock, and lichens and other elements that have left their marks on this majestic landscape of stone.
WORKS ON CANVAS
WORKS ON PAPER
WORKS ON WOOD PANEL
© Elaine Michaud 2024