River Shoal

'River Shoal' is a large acrylic painting using a water spray technique.  The surface of the canvas has been textured using various acrylic mediums. The painting was then intentionally distressed using a spray water technique between layers of acrylic paint. This techniques quite literally gives the painting a watery feeling, appropriate to the subject of the piece. A SHOAL is a place where a river, sea, or other body of water becomes shallow allowing the possibility of traversing it by foot. The painting is part of a series I've been working on based on Stallings Island...an island in the Savannah River that has figured prominently in the field of archaeology.  Stallings Island, a National Historic Landmark site, was a major settlement of Late Archaic Native Americans from 4,500 to 3,500 years ago. Located in the Savannah River, eight miles upstream from Augusta, the sixteen-acre island is the namesake of Stallings Culture and its hallmark pottery, Stallings fiber-tempered wares, the oldest pottery in North America.

(Detail: River Shoal)