A Star Pause

Two people sitting with their backs to you. Her head rests on his shoulder.

“A Star Pause”, a square 100 × 100 cm. Many layers, gloss in places, one of the “Fish in Space” works.

I gave them no faces and no features on purpose. Particular people are unnecessary here; the connection is the subject.

Around them a pink abstraction with gold stars scattered through it. A Milky Way, only warm.

The gesture is simple and quiet. A head on a shoulder is agreement to be near, to breathe at one rate and look into the same infinity without discussing it.

The distance between those two is gone, and that gap is what the canvas actually paints, though empty space is harder to paint than a figure.

The pink is warm, nearly flesh. Next to gold it gives vulnerability, not sweetness.

What is a pause? The place in a conversation where the words ran out and everything got better for it.

A bedroom suits it best.

I take commissions on this square.