Elaine Coombs - BiographyElaine Coombs lives and works in San Francisco, California. Born and educated in Ontario, Canada, she moved to the Bay Area in 2001 after several years of travel and work abroad. Her paintings have been exhibited across the United States from California to Maine, as well as in Canada, Europe, and Asia. Her work can be found in over 400 private, corporate and public collections, most notably the U.S. Department of State - Art Bank Program; The City and County of San Francisco Civic Art Collection; The Alameda County Department of Environmental Health; various Kaiser Permanente and UCSF medical facilities; the Mayo Clinic; Imagery Estate Winery; and the Ritz Carlton Highlands Hotel in Lake Tahoe, California. In her latest artwork, Elaine is exploring the use of metallic paints to create other worldly sky-scapes that evoke joy and contemplation.Artist Statement - Sky SeriesAt my best, I am an unapologetically optimistic individual that hopes to inspire through a halcyon lens of uplifting imagery. Nature has always been the place where I can return to center spiritually, as it fosters in me a clearer connection with the presence of the divine. Mesmerized by cloud patterns and the colors found at golden hour, I seek to conjure a peaceful emotional space, as well as interpret a physical one. In the studio, softly reflective metallic backgrounds in silvery pearl, gold and blue pearl acrylic stand in for sunlight and provide a soothing visual respite to rhythmic palette knife marks that indicate clouds, meticulously applied. This combination of both simple and complex forms completes an ethereal skyward vision of the artist’s ideal psychological state made manifest. Forest LandscapesSince 2005, I have created contemporary landscape paintings that strive to capture the essence of nature, as it feels to me at this time, namely, sacred, stoic, and tranquil. I seek to conjure a particularly idyllic moment, and this moment need not be a named place, for one can look at it and see many places in it. I want the viewer to have a sense of connection with something more – my depiction indeed hints at a peaceful force beyond us that is benevolent. To wander through a forest is truly to be present in that remarkable goodness.