Shayla Maddox

I broke the mold with this one. No, really, I mean the canvas separated from the wooden frame after I began painting it. After an emergency trip to purchase a staple gun, damage was kept to a minimum.

I wanted to paint something with entirely warm colors. I think this one is a response to my earlier painting, Rings. I wasn't trying to portray nature exactly, but more the interesting designs that can be made through using circles. I had all these visions of ancient coins and ancient buildings. I was thinking about feeling lucky, having all sorts of possibilities awaiting. Flip a coin, take a chance! My Grandpa used to collect coins, all different kinds, and we spent many hours examining them together. His collection was a treasure itself, but the memory of those many hours pouring through the different coins together is where the greatest treasure is. I am so fortunate to have that memory.

I wanted the blacklight painting to be very different from how it looks under normal lighting. You know how coins always have two sides, and those two sides are completely different? It's almost like two separate moods. It helps remind me that anything can change at any moment. You never know when your luck will turn around, right? Your destiny can lie within any new choice you make. I love that.

Whereas my last painting focused on sun and moon imagery, this one is based on planets. Specifically, what you would "see" if you looked up at the night sky. After I began this one, we watched a show that debated how many planets were really in our solar system, and whether or not Pluto can actually be considered a planet.

(*shown in both normal and blacklight.)

This one makes me happy. :o) I called it "Summer!" because that's how I felt about the world in early June before global warming gave us the worst deadly hot summer I've been through since living on a desert commune 15 years ago. Ick. June was a beautiful month. Everything was clear.

I think this was a bit of backlash from my previous painting, which was heavy on texture and complexity. I also wanted to see how quickly I could complete a large painting, since Thin Space took such a long time. I finished it in 2 weeks. It would have gone even quicker if the sun hadn't started melting the paint when I was out on the balcony.

I really love the "shine" effect on this one, which unfortunately looks spectacular in person, but doesn't seem to photograph well.

On the other hand, I'm still improving my photography, so perhaps I can replace the image soon.

This is my personal favorite. So far, of course.

(*shown in both normal light and blacklight)

This one was complicated. I spent a lot of time doing sketches (something new for me) beforehand. I knew it would be important to get the design down correctly before transferring anything to the canvas. This was the first time I was able to work on such a large piece - 30x40! I barely had room in my tiny apartment to paint it. In the Celtic tradition, "Thin Spaces" are places where the spiritual and the natural world intersect. I wanted to create something that was without particular direction, something very interpretive. I've gotten a lot of positive response on this one. I really wanted to make something elegant. I learned a lot from this piece, and it really opened my mind up to possibilities of future paintings. I love how it looks in blacklight. Actually, it looks best with both blacklight and regular light on at the same time. Kind of like it's glowing from within. I am very happy that I get to visit it often. It looks stunning hanging above my friend's fireplace. She says she often meditates to it, which is possibly the highest compliment I've ever received on anything in my life.

I can't get a good picture of it with the lights off, but in total darkness it looks like a field of stars. I never expected to create paintings that look good in utter blackness, but I'm completely satisfied with the result.

In truth, I think the concept of 'Thin Spaces' represents most, if not all, of my work.

(*shown in both normal light and blacklight)

An abstract interpretation of my engagement ring, which is made up of circular diamonds and circular prongs, but together looks like a myriad of possibilities. I refer to it as "my X ring," but others have said it's a star, a flower, and a butterfly (?). I was intrigued by the idea that although circles are a very simple, basic shape, it's possible to create many varied designs with them. I started this about a year earlier, but wasn't happy with how it was progressing. It actually started off as entirely yellow and orange. Though I've used UV reactive colors in most of my paintings, this was the first time I specifically painted with intention of how it would appear under UV light.

This is still one of my favorites. Experimenting with brightness. I like thinking about what the universe would look like if you could see everything at the same time, no matter what each part's distance from each other was. Layers on top of layers. How does God see the universe?

This was originally my second painting ever, but I never officially completed it, and didn't like how it looked. I saved it, waiting for inspiration that finally came. Colin about had a heart attack when I started painting over it. I liked some of it, so I based the final painting off the work I was happy with. Much of the right side of the piece is kept from it's original state.

Still trying to make light shine through darkness. This is actually a remix of an earlier painting I did in 2004. My friend suggested I start doing paintings multiple times to see how they changed and improved with each revision. I called it (and the original) "Plato's Theory," based on his philosophy that we all started as circles and when we angered the gods, they punished us by splitting us evenly in half. We must then search the universe for our other half, and only when we find it are we whole and complete again. Come to think of it, Plato's theory better represents part of what inspires me to paint in general. Hmm. Maybe I'll do it again. Jyro said to do it 8 times. Whew.

(*shown in both normal light and blacklight)

I made this as a type of birthday card - painting for Becky. It wasn't even supposed to be as detailed as it is. I only had a week to complete it, but I just kept having more inspiration to add things. I guess I had too much to say in one simple, 9x12 painting. Immersion, the idea of helping create something radical, The Rising Sun, Alice, friendship, bahhh. Too much. It's fun though. Looks nifty in blacklight.

I started trying to play with texture here. I think I wanted something really dark and really chaotic, yet centered on stillness. My favorite part is the light blue "horizon lines." It reminds me of the ocean.

This is one of my earliest pieces, but I'm still happy with it. I'd like to revisit it. It's an interpretation of the sunset Colin and I saw the day after he proposed in Cambria, California. After a crystal clear, beautiful day, the skies over the sea became stormy, and the waves were very choppy. The sunset kept peeking through the clouds, turning them a soft, translucent orange. Perhaps because of this, the ocean looked teal, rather than gray. We couldn't even leave the car because of the wind. It was the most unusual display of sunset colors I've ever seen.