Color Is The Star Of Oregon Artist Mia Farrington's Work

For Mia Farrington, color is both a means of expression and a portal to the past. “When I’m trying to access a memory or recall an experience, the first thing that comes into my mind is a color—the particular shade of the sky on a given day, the blue-gray of the lake from my childhood in Vermont, the lichen growing on the side of a tree,” she says. “It’s how I summon pivotal episodes and events from my life.”

In addition to looking inward, the painter also scans her surroundings for artistic inspiration, from her home in Portland, to Italian hill towns, to movies, fashion design, architecture—even characters in books. “In the novel Circe, for example, Madeline Miller describes this evil, silvery, dark sea creature, and that became the starting point for a painting,” Farrington explains. “There’s never been a time when color is not part of what I’m observing and obsessing about.”

As color plays the starring role in her artwork, Farrington favors simple shapes that resemble rocks or boulders, which may abut, float apart or bleed off the sides of a composition. Referring to colored pencil, watercolor and pastel sketches, Farrington outlines the shapes on raw linen or canvas with two layers of tape to maintain a clean, hard edge. She reaches for acrylic paints for a matte finish and opts for watercolor or acrylic inks—which are more sheer—to impart variation and movement. “I think because they are less static, the inks allow me to convey a more complex depth of emotion,” Farrington says.

From afar, the forms appear perfectly crisp—almost machined. Any softness or fuzziness around the edges only comes into focus as one moves closer to the canvas. “It’s something I actually encourage people to look for,” Farrington says. “On social media, all we see are these flawless, glossy projections. But when you truly become intimate with something or someone, you observe and embrace the little imperfections. It’s humanizing.” Viewers will have an opportunity to take an up-close look for themselves at her next solo show, which opens on October 29 at Winston Wächter Fine Art in Seattle.

It’s not necessary to be privy to the specific stories behind each of Farrington’s color field paintings in order to find them emotionally resonant. “I am always so thrilled when people tell me how a particular piece made them feel happy, or calm or moved,” she says. “For me, the goal of sharing my work is to reflect and inspire these fleeting moments of joy and wonder.”