72W x 72H x 2.5D"

Oil on canvas, framed

Christi Meril

Artist Statement:

Sometimes a little room to breathe appears in the middle of everything else. “Quiet Spaces” holds that possibility across a canvas filled with movement. 

Broad horizontal passages move from pale light into deeper gray, green, and charcoal. Blue and violet draw the eye downward, with warmth appearing along their edges. Fine lines run through the painted layers. Seen from across the room, the six foot square work feels expansive. Come closer, and small openings, softened marks, and shifts in color begin to offer places for the eye to rest. 

Christi Meril made the painting with oil and acrylic, incorporating charcoal she gathered from an extinguished campfire at Ghost Ranch in 2023. The charcoal carries a trace of that particular time and place into the canvas. Some marks remain faint beneath the paint; others travel visibly across its surface. The layers can suggest a horizon, weather, or lights seen from a distance, changing as the viewer moves and looks again. 

The painting’s quiet is something to be found within it. Darker passages give the work weight, while light and color open it back up. “Quiet Spaces” invites viewers to slow down and find the part that speaks to them. What feels distant at first may become familiar with time, like the small moments of calm we learn to notice within a full life.