Description
On Island, 2026
By Kristen Coates
20”H x 16”W
Acrylic on canvas
Signed and titled on reverse
This painting carries the feeling of abstracted florals, layered, gestural, and unfolding across a vertical field. Large passages of pink move confidently over a textured ground of deep purples and blues, creating a sense of depth, softness, and contrast. I hardly use this color combination in all its glory and I had every intention of dulling the purple and making this more subtle, but the painting took over and it became more bold as I went along.
Working at this scale felt expansive. The elongated canvas invited a different kind of movement, one that allowed the forms to stack, overlap, and bloom without constraint. The oversized gestures of pink weren’t carefully placed, but rather allowed to exist fully, without hesitation. There is a quiet strength in the composition, a balance between softness and assertion, where color becomes both structure and expression. A painting about permission, presence, and letting the work take up space.