Barbara Nechis, American, Watercolor. Signed in lower right. Watercolor painting on paper. Abstract floral arrangement with various other items next to it. Small signs of water damage on edge. Overall Size: 23 1/4 x 29 1/4 in. Sight Size: 15 1/2 x 21 1/4 in. Barbara Nechis began by painting the kind of watercolor landscapes we all began with - leafy trees and old barns-traditional landscapes rendered in descriptive detail. But she quickly realized that although her efforts were satisfactory, they were not satisfying. She wanted to find her own voice, a better way to express her response to the visual world. She wanted to convey the essence of a subject not just describe its visual facts. By using color, shape, and space in a more abstract way, she developed a visual language that is uniquely her own. Her paintings are not the result of happy accidents, nor are they the product of a systematic design approach. Her paintings are the result of combining her imagination, her emotion, and an intuitive sense of design based on years of painting and study. Nechis says, "My objective is to allow my feelings about a subject to come out naturally, then guide them into shapes and value patterns. Although the feeling of trees, mountains, flowers, or water is there because I have used their basic shapes, I haven’t actually painted these objects. Each painting is new; and by allowing the water and paint to flow, letting the paper itself suggest the subject matter and the technique as well, ideas begin to rise.” #1344 #3 Location BC