‘Gesture as Witness — the Space Between Petals’

Many artists will tell you that they “let the paint tell me what it wants.” For the most part they are expressing that the finished product isn’t the point nor what they have fixed in their minds at the start. It’s the way they find the composition, colors and contrasts develop as they go along.

Yet there are some who actually allow the materials to determine a lot of what they create — the paint, the surface, etc. — and Williams is one of those few who mean it literally.

She prefers to paint on wood panels, though she does work on canvas too. First, she looks for the grain patterns in the wood, then sands and prepares the surface so that the grain catches her pigments and becomes part of the painting. You can see some of that in the whorls in them; those were grain patterns.

“Inspired by the wood, it becomes water,” Williams said.

Then she layers voluminously. At some point she will take previously prepared stencils, flowers in this particular exhibit, and use those to add a note of realism or an impression (literally) to the composition.

She says she looks for the perfect leaf, the precise flower. That’s her inspiration.

“Silence Between the Leaves” is a good example. At first what appears like a Monet waterlily homage, is not at all. The flat gray-green objects are not lily pads; they are rocks. The whorls are water, but artifacts of the wood grain. Gingko flowers in bright yellow-orange cover them all in color contrast to that cool background.

She may use oil sticks, house paint, acrylics and other unusual combinations. “Cloud River” is actually painted partially in rust. Yes, iron oxide. It’s a sprinkling of poppy flowers on a light background. It’s a sprawling triptych on canvas panels that dominate a wall.

“Desert Rose” was inspired by cacti. The flower patterns in this nearly monochromatic diptych are both the cactus flowers and hydrangea patterns faintly overlaid.

“White River” is a white and gray water scene with roses over the top. Again, the wood panel’s grain laid the pattern on which the rest is constructed.

“Pollen’s Party” breaks the theme a bit. There is the suggestion of blossoms here, but the composition is an almost classical Chinese tree limb painted with a large Chinese brush. Williams studied that style of painting too. Her journeys have taken her many places.

“Pot of Gold” started with abstraction. As she looked at the deep yellow coin shapes on a blue cupped surface it suggested exactly that to her. So that’s what she built it around. The color, then the form, and the paint told her what to do next.

Williams refers to 60-year-old books by Carlos Castaneda, a self-professed shaman who entranced a generation with tales of mescaline-fueled visions.

“Lots of magic in there,” she said.

She believes that, for all the work and creativity that goes into her painting process, it’s not complete until it reaches viewers. Hence, the “witness” in the title of her exhibit is actually you, the gallery visitor. That closes her circle.

“I like to fool around with the magic,” she said, eyes twinkling.

You won’t need peyote buttons to appreciate her paintings. Lucky you.

Bryant Street Gallery, 532 Bryant St., Palo Alto, Calif., (650) 321-8155, bryantstreet.com 

Heads up: If I say, “CoCA”, don’t think “cola.” The Colony of Coastside Artists is holding a two-day open studio tour May 30-31. Twenty-three artists from Half Moon Bay through El Granada will open their doors: colonyofcoastsideartists.com.

Bart Charlow, author, artist and consultant blends over 45 years of painting and photography with narrative storytelling. Explore the intersection of observation and expression through his insights on the local art scene, find his books at bartcharlow.com and his art at bartsart.weebly.com.