BARBARA ROMAIN

Six feet underwater, with the light coming down through it.
Water: Bathe is the third of Barbara Romain's four Elements. A single great circle drawn edge to edge, and light falling through it from above — the light you see when you are below the surface looking up.
The water is full. Fish, sharks, jellyfish, kelp fronds, scallop shells and seaweed are printed and stencilled into the paint, some sharp, some ghosted. Rings of bubbles rise across the field. Pisces, Cancer and Scorpio are lettered among them.
Her alphabet poem spirals inward through the water — AQUA BRINE COLD DEEP EDDIES FLOATING GALLEONS HOIST IMMERSED, on down to XPLORE YOUR ZEN — and at the centre, the word BATHE.
Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 2006.