Coffey's recent observations in both Southern Oregon and Los Angeles during heavy fire seasons, were impactful to how she was viewing changes in light and color. It struck her how quickly she acclimated to this change, accepting it as normal. Back in her studio, Coffey started a series of paintings that could distinguish a strong sense of light exploration alongside subtle narrative between landscape and wildlife. Working in egg tempera, a mixture of egg yolk, dry pigment and water, her paintings are filled with multiple layers for each color. Nuances between tone, transparency and vibrancy are at play in organic silhouettes and shadow.
Titles reflect an investigation of inner work with ideas such as peace, capacity and victory, paralleling images that are gentle while others reflect an urgency. Coffey explores the resiliency of our planet’s natural land regeneration in the face of climate change. She aims to move the viewers' curiosity towards slowing down and observing surroundings to reach a calming state of meditation, which she finds restorative to conflicts. Coffey finds that inner peace is not always passive, but rather, a strong force that transforms her inner world. Feeling that we all need nature and a responsibility to protect it, Coffey aims to raise curiosity with her paintings and encourage collective critical thinking in regards to environment.
“Searching”
“Fire Sun”
“Still”
“Courage”
