Cabin Fever

Cabin Fever (2022)
17¾x23¾ Pastel on Pastel Paper
Original is Sold

Fun in the cold weather eventually gives way to a real need to feel the warm sun on all your skin.

As an introvert, I usually enjoy hunkering down indoors, but this piece was actually inspired by a recent pivot in travel plans. To avoid flying, we swapped a January getaway to Puerto Rico for a quiet retreat on an island in Maine. Its glass atrium ended up serving as the exact backdrop for this painting.

Cabin Fever is an exercise in balancing Indoor warmth with the freezing reality just past the glass. I focused on contrasting the bright, cool light bouncing off the Snowy evergreens Outside with the softer shadows inside the room. Posing the completely naked subject from Behind allowed me to highlight the anatomical structure of his shoulders and back. Holding a discarded piece of clothing, the natural sunlight wraps around his physique, capturing the quiet tension of waiting out the Winter isolation.