Liz Ewings

The Boundary series paintings are abstract profile views of the ocean intersected by squares, to explore the idea of demarking a square in the ocean using an ecologist’s quadrat. Some of the squares rigidly divide their fluid surroundings, while others are sunk behind layers of glazes.

In some paintings, the square surrounds most or all of the colors in the painting. In other paintings, only a small portion of the colors are captured by the square and the brightest, most novel colors may be completely left out of it.

The ocean constantly changing in both space and time. Oceanographers measure spatial and temporal patchiness by studying water samples from many locations and multiple depths over time, and calculating what is in a square meter of water. Marine ecologists use quadrat squares to demarcate a square of beach for study. In my paintings I use painted quadrats to play with the idea of ephemerality, and the futility of imposing boundaries on a changeable, interconnected world.

Isolumes explores light in the ocean at three times of day: noon, evening, and night. The angle of the sun affects both the depth of illumination and the color of the light. The daily change in light level controls the daily migration zooplankton up and down the water column. The eyes of different shrimp species have adapted to perceive different wavelengths of light, and they relocate vertically to remain in their preferred light habitat.

Internal waves in the ocean are found below the surface at the boundary between warm and/or fresh surface water and cold, salty, deep water. When currents force deep water to flow over bumpy seafloor features like seamounts, internal waves form.

Internal waves don’t create surface waves, and only show up on the surface as slicks of flat shiny water. I love the idea that the deep ocean is active in ways that are not revealed on its visible skin. There may be more going on than is apparent at the surface.

Small oil paintings of ocean internal waves

Plankton form the base of the Puget Sound food web that scales up to larger, iconic megafauna including salmon and killer whales. Place is important, even in oceanic real estate. So is timing. Seasonal changes in Puget Sound chemistry and physics result in spatial and temporal patchiness, creating micro-neighborhoods within the larger scope of the Pacific Northwest marine environment, and an elusive ‘now you see ‘em, now you don’t’ pattern for hungry predators.

These images are based on diatoms and zooplankton larva I collected in Saratoga Passage near Whidbey Island during the spring blooms of 2016, 2017, and 2018. I photographed live organisms under a microscope, and based these paintings on the photographs.

I use layered glazes to build depth, and experiment with liquid paint application to evoke unconstrained water movement. Inspired by the oceanographic convention of simplifying the ocean into a mosaic of squares and cubes, I build square panels and join them together, creating a sense of order in chaos.

The ocean in cross sections