Peegee + Snag: This Art Pair is a Natural Fit

For this next art pair, I was invited to match up with a beautiful floral painting by my good friend Philip Hodges. Entitled Peegee, the painting is a song of delicate pink detail showing a fading Peegee hydrangea. 

I love to see contrast in an art pair—not jarring discord—but works that have enough visual contrast that each emphasizes the strengths of the other. When I saw Peegee, I thought almost immediately of my print Snag. Snag has a color palette that ties it to Peegee, but its simple graphic forms play off the tiny details of the painting, and there’s a great visual energy set up between them. There’s also an abstract quality to the close view and tight crop of Peegee that makes it a great match for Snag. 

I also love that the two pieces engage thematically, both showing nature slightly past her prime, but all the more beautiful for it. (Did you know that a snag is a standing dead tree? My print is based on one near my cottage that gets more and more holes and inhabitants with each passing season.)

I would hang the painting and the print as I’ve shown them, with the strong dark grey of Snag creating a visual base for the composition. They could also be a great base for a gallery wall.

Check out more of Philip’s beautiful paintings online >>

 

PS. If you’re in Nova Scotia, you just have to go to Twelve Acre Hill Gallery near Peggy’s Cove. Philip runs this small gallery in an old workshop on a gorgeous property overlooking St. Margaret’s Bay. It’s filled to the edges with his paintings and work by other fab local artists.