​

Abstract Melodies

Tina Sturges’ abstractions are akin to music, they exist in the similar mode musical melodies occur. Most of them radiate energy and the sense of movement emanating from the center outwards inviting the viewer to take this energy in and relate to the painting. The colors that come in ribbons, waves, spirals, or coils, like windings of musical language, seem to belong to a different world, and her unique play of warm and cool colors against each other is very comforting. She is liberal with her color and not afraid to use it in a broader sense.

​

Some paintings have several melodies going on at the same time. Each part has its own melody but the whole acts like one unit, one symphony. Tina Sturges uses her negative space in a very sensitive and skillful way, it is as if air currents come in with music and movement. She allows the viewer to enjoy complexity due to the intertwining of open space and the core of the composition, therefore her paintings have strong atmospheric qualities.

​

Often a dancer appears amidst a camouflage of colorful bands, but at times the figure is merely suggestive or implied. Perhaps it is not a dancer at all but a strong association with a figure merging with waves of music is unquestionably present. In her painting Rebirth there is a figure on the lower left, suggesting or announcing the beginning of a new life in truly metaphorical surroundings.  

​

In Self Reflection, light comes from a center of chaos. There is a shape emblematic of an architectural column, or a structural core, that makes the viewer ponder about its significance. Ribbons of color burst in like winds, blowing around it, creating a metaphor for a spiritual core. In Spring Passage, the arrival of flora brings in the promise of spring, with the top round shape looking like the emerging sun. This painting is like a celebratory symphony honoring spring.

​

In Summer everything is melting due to extreme heat. The center of the painting is hazy like atmosphere on a very hot summer day. The artist successfully fits the whole day in one painting, starting with the morning dawn, progressing into the midday of excruciating heat in the lower left, and slowly ending up in the evening in the top left corner.

​

In Vivid Consciousness, two figures are emerging, perhaps a man and a woman, somewhere that looks like an opening in the forest, or some metaphorical or sacred space. It is an allegory with symbolic figures, they might be Adam and Eve, or characters from a Renaissance novel. Skillfully painted shapes dance before our eyes, and the exquisite softness of their outlines makes them vibrate as they move into the painting from the space outside the picture plain.

​

Some abstractions reflect on themes like landscapes or cityscapes. In Urban Quilt, for example, Tina describes a cityscape in an unusual and creative way, she renders an architectural feeling in a hazy smoky atmosphere rather than an actual city scene. One of her best works,