Luz Marina Ruiz "Labarinto" Watercolor and Gouache, Miniature Abstract Painting in Coral Pink, Bay Area California Art, Original 4 X 6 Inches, 2025

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Description

White zigzag lines cover a coral ground that holds a sage and cream bulb with ribbed contours and a tiny … Read more White zigzag lines cover a coral ground that holds a sage and cream bulb with ribbed contours and a tiny striped seed, beside a dotted blue bud. A pale blue-gray strip at the left is marked with white characters, a grid of ochre and aqua blocks fills the lower left, and a large cream spiral winds through a turquoise square at the bottom. Labarinto suggests a labyrinth, and the small picture is full of paths and turns. The paper's grain shows through, with color layered thin and dry in places, thick and bright in others.

At six inches tall, this miniature is made for a shelf, a desk, a dresser or a small gallery group. The coral and aqua look fresh with white, cream and soft blue, and they pair with rattan, ceramics and plants. It suits a bedroom, a dressing area or a kitchen, and its busy, patterned surface rewards a close look, so it is best placed at eye level or in hand's reach.

Watercolor and gouache, 4 x 6 in (10.2 x 15.2 cm).

This work is painted in watercolor and gouache, combining the transparent washes of one with the opaque, matte color of the other. Layering the two lets Luz Marina Ruiz build soft, glowing grounds, then define shapes with crisp edges, fine drawn lines and small areas of pattern. The grain of the paper shows through the pigment, giving the small format a tactile, hand-worked surface.

Luz Marina Ruiz was born in Cali, Colombia, and raised in New York. She earned her BA, MA and MFA at the University of California, Berkeley, and is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she teaches printmaking at the California College of the Arts.

Her practice moves between painting, drawing, printmaking and book arts, with linocut, collagraph, monotype and woodcut often turned into sculptural tunnel books and carousel books. Inspired by dreams and nature, she returns to water and boats as images of life's journeys. Her work is held in public collections including the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, UC Berkeley's Environmental Design Library and Mills College Special Collections. See less