Intertwine is a textured wabi-sabi abstract oil painting of two figures in deep black, warm orange, and a flat off-white. Hand-painted in oil, sized for a narrow wall between two windows or above a low console.
Intertwine is the smallest of the three wabi-sabi pieces in the studio right now, and probably the one that gets touched the most. Two abstract figures lean toward each other across a cream background, painted in deep black, warm orange, and a flat off-white. The composition is simple, almost a diagram, but the texture is what gives it weight.
Most of the surface is built up with a palette knife. The orange has the thickest application, almost a centimeter in places, and the black is layered on top in thinner passes. The result is a piece that throws real shadow on the wall under angled light. It is the kind of work you walk past all day and still see something new in. The texture is so thick in places that a finger drawn across it can feel the ridges.
We tried three different background colors before settling on the cream. Pure white was too cold. A warm beige fought the orange. The cream we ended with is the same color as raw canvas, which means the painting reads as if the color is sitting on top of nothing. That is intentional. The figures are doing all the work, and the background is meant to disappear.
Two-figure pieces are good for narrow spaces: between two windows, in a hallway, or above a low console. They are also a way to bring wabi-sabi into a room that already has color, because the cream background does not fight. The piece is small by our standards, but it carries the kind of presence that usually belongs to a larger work. We attribute that to the texture.
If you are deciding between this and the other wabi-sabi pieces in the same collection, the difference is mostly scale and number of figures. Intertwine is the smallest and the most concentrated. The other two pieces have more breathing room. Pick based on the wall you have.
