This painting by Jean Cate is made with salt and ink on a wooden panel. Cate achieves an empyrean composition in her balance of striking bursts of ink and gentle washes with salt to create movement and texture. Cate uses pastels in this piece, creating a blooming effect with pockets of purple and brownish hues. The subtle grain of the birchwood panel swirls beneath applications of deep navy ink, for an effect that is both radiant and absorbing.

Ink, salt, watercolor and pastel on wood panel
10 1/4” x 13 1/4” x 2 1/4” w/ wood frame

Jean Cate is a Chicago based artist and owner of Martha Mae: Art Supplies & Beautiful Things and The Center of Order of Experimentation. She studied painting, drawing and ceramics at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. 

“In my art practice, I strive for the experience of being fully present, where intuition and emotion guide my creative process without conscious thought. My work revolves around the theme of atmosphere, drawing inspiration from the ever-changing and dramatic forces of nature, such as clouds that appear and disappear seemingly out of nothingness.”