Environmental Reverberations by Cathy Ehrler

Environmental Reverberations

Environmental Reverberations is a series of 20 paintings that illustrate patterns of repetition in the natural and manmade environments. Each painting in the series is titled “ECO”, a play on the words “ecological” and “echo”. The paintings are designed to reflect the ecological issues we face, both in the natural environment and the manmade one. The paintings depict the repetitions of shapes in our environment, the echoes that repeat over and over both in the lushness of the natural subjects and the excess of our waste.
I have attempted to show the similarities in each while at the same time show how man has garishly changed the materials. From soft, natural forms and pleasing color harmonies to hard edges and garish colors with man's stamp of words and language. There are also similarities of color harmonies. For example, red, blue and yellow in the flowers and red, blue and yellow in the aluminum cans. There is red and green in the leaves and red and green in the bottles. The difference is in how man has changed the softness to unnatural hues.
I didn’t have to go far to find the subjects. I found each one outside my door. I continually find new subject matter around me, both in our beautiful natural world and in the abundance of our waste. This series has given me a keener awareness of man’s responsibility to care for our world and our responsibility to keep it beautiful. I hope the viewer finds something personal in these works just as I have.

Click on the paintings below to see a larger view