"In Play" is a group of acrylic paintings on paper and pieces of ceramic stoneware that were created with playful immediacy. Colorful, bold brushstrokes express a whimsical iconography of forms in the paintings, echoed in the ceramic vessels.

In these acrylic paintings, I have used the watercolor technique of building forms with single layers of transparent paint. Each color seldom covers another, so I am always considering what is already there. The colored areas present a vocabulary of playful shapes interacting with bold brushstrokes. I painted with large brushes in bold color, enjoying the visceral interaction of form and color. I proceeded to add invented shapes that suggest objects and add to the comical mood in the paintings. I formed white areas into shapes that modulate from foreground to background space. Some of the white areas form shapes that seem to be missing, erased, or about to arrive. This adds to the feeling of the painting in motion — in play.

—Elizabeth Strasser