Title: Genesis
Artist: Monique Sakellarios
Medium & Materials: Oil on copper panel
Dimensions: 12" x 24"
Overview
Part of Monique Sakellarios’s exploration of metallic substrates, Genesis transforms a wide copper panel into an abstract landscape of warmth, atmosphere, and light. The copper surface creates an organic glow beneath the oil paint, suggesting a sunlit autumn valley emerging through morning mist.
Description
In Genesis, landscape painter Monique Sakellarios creates a luminous abstract composition across a 12" x 24" copper panel. Rather than relying on traditional landscape markers, the work builds atmosphere through movement, subtle color transitions, and richly textured paint. The copper substrate adds a warm metallic undertone, allowing the oil layers to shimmer as the light shifts across the surface.
The composition moves along a gentle diagonal axis from the lower left toward the center, where layered passages of mahogany, burnt sienna, deep violet, and plum create a dense visual core. These darker, gestural forms suggest wild autumn flora, a rocky valley path, or earth emerging through haze. Around them, soft lavender, periwinkle, and pale rose tones open into a mist-filled field of light.
Toward the right side, golden ochre, champagne, and ivory highlights brighten the composition, applied with expressive palette and bristle marks that preserve the movement of the artist’s hand. The result is a radiant, atmospheric work that balances loose impressionistic gesture with refined internal luminosity, making it a strong focal piece for a fine art setting.
Style & Composition
- Artistic Style: Expressionistic Impressionism with elements of lyrical tonalism.
- Composition Type: Wide horizontal landscape format with an asymmetric diagonal structure. A dense central cluster of autumnal tones dissolves into pale light and mist on either side.
- Focal Point: The high-contrast center-right clearing, where deep plum and mahogany passages meet bright cream and golden ochre highlights.
- Color Palette: Deep mahogany, rich plum, lavender, and periwinkle are balanced by golden ochre, champagne cream, and the warm undertone of copper.
- Lighting & Atmosphere: Soft, diffused light evokes twilight or early dawn filtering through fog, creating a serene, dreamlike mood with a subtle metallic glow.
Application & Stylistic Technique
- Brushwork / Mark-Making: Loose, tactile, and physical. Thick impasto patches build the structural midground, while soft, multidirectional scumbling blends the atmospheric background.
- Layering & Depth: Transparent lavender glazes allow the copper substrate to emerge as a warm inner light, while heavier gold and mahogany ridges project forward with sculptural presence.
- Tools Used: Heavy-body oil paints on a rigid, prepared copper panel, applied with medium flat-bristle brushes and dry blending mops to soften the airy transitions.
Inventory Status: Available for purchase online or in the gallery.
Shipping / Pickup: Shipping is available, with items securely packaged in professional archival materials, insured, and shipped globally; complimentary local pickup is also available at our 23 North Main Street gallery.
