Wild Things by Ashley Wittling

11x14 Watercolor & Oil Glazes by Ashley Wittling

Artist Statement:

My art is a quiet invitation into the liminal spaces between the natural and the imagined, where flowers, animals, bones and ethereal figures converge in delicate, poetic narratives. In each piece, I explore how life and decay, growth and stillness, light and shadow converse—how the smallest detail can become a vessel for larger emotional or spiritual truths. Working primarily in watercolor and layered oil glazes, I seek to balance the fragility of transparent washes with the depth of richer tones. The layering process becomes a meditation: I build slowly, allowing the work to unveil itself, and leaving space for vulnerabilities and uncertainties. My compositions draw from folklore, myth, and the symbolic language of nature—not to tell literal stories, but to evoke a sense of wonder, longing, and reconnection. I aim to stir in the viewer a recognition: that we are not separate from the natural world, but part of a web of cycles, both visible and unseen. Ultimately, my practice is an invitation to pause—to notice the fragile, fleeting moments often overlooked, and to step into spaces where the ordinary becomes luminous and alive.