Creature Comfort Color Quilts
OPENING RECEPTION
Change of plans!
Due to a scheduling conflict, the opening reception for this exhibit will NO LONGER BE on Friday Oct 2, 5-8 pm.
We are working to find a different date/ time for the reception, and I will be updating this post as soon as that is decided upon.
Stay tuned bc art IRL just hits different, and I’d absolutely love to see and celebrate creativity together when a new date is announced!!
“I’m Sorry But I’ve Never Seen You, But I’ve Dreamt of Meeting You My Whole Life,” acrylic painting on canvas, 36×48 inches, 2026
Artist Statement: I began painting these color quilts in early 2025, as a soothing, repetitive practice in response to some post-election anxiety. In the void of choices, I focused on color, layers and brushstrokes.
I selected colors that reminded me of formative moments spent outside – neon pinks and earthy reds. The youthful glow of spring chartreuse. Periwinkle from chicory.
As I worked, my sense of calm and creature comfort gave way to playfulness and childlike wonder. I became energized by the interplay of colors. The sharp grid-style template began to deteriorate into something more interesting: bursts of chaos, shifting shapes in flux.
Over the months that followed, I explored the process on different surfaces – raw unstretched canvas, handmade watercolor paper, primed canvas, panels. I painted tiny ones and giant ones, and I painted quickly, sometimes chaotically, to keep from overthinking.
CREATURE COMFORT COLOR QUILTS is a project about painting. It explores how growth, change, and creativity spontaneously arise when we give ourselves containers of safety, comfort and radical care.
A note on the work’s titles: names for the paintings in this series are selected from movies, shows, music, poems and books that I find comforting. Bonus points if you recognize the origin from each one!
I’m honored to have nine of these works on view and for sale in the gorgeous Francis Hotel this autumn through the end of 2026!
Check back here or follow me on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/ashleytrabue/) to get updates on when we’ll be gathering for an open reception!
“into the mysterious forest,” acrylic on handmade watercolor paper, 12×12 inches, 2026
“through the colorful unknown,” acrylic on handmade watercolor paper, 12×12 inches, 2026
“finding my way home,” acrylic on handmade watercolor paper, 12×12 inches, 2026
“with a variety of strange and fantastical beings,” acrylic on handmade watercolor paper, 12×12 inches, 2026
“barefoot on a summer night," acrylic on stretched canvas, 16" x 20", 2026
"but I'm a fire, and I'll keep your brittle heart warm," acrylic on stretched raw canvas, 8" x 10", 2026
"if your cascade, ocean-wave, blues come," acrylic on stretched raw canvas, 8" x 10", 2026