Elena Degenhardt's mesmerizing waterscapes, painted with an impressionistic touch, enthrall the viewer with intricate swirling patterns, luminescent hues and submerged figures yielding to the water's glassy depths. Time spent with one of Degenhardt's more meditative sea paintings, such as Meditation V. The Subconscious (page 26) may prompt the emergence of untapped emotions or ideas—or perhaps reawaken memories that branch into additional layers of inquiry. The artist relies on similar threads of discovery to develop new ideas for a piece. As Degenhardt says, “Like deep waters, human minds have their unreachable depths, both intriguing and repelling.”
Not surprisingly, the artist finds immense solace in the sea. “When I'm there, swimming and floating, it's actually the only time, apart from when I paint it, that I feel adequate and at peace with…
