THURSDAY, JULY 7, 2011
![](https://i0.wp.com/web.mac.com/jamestreacy/Jamie_Treacy_Nitty_Gritty_Studios/Studio_Blog/Entries/2011/7/7_The_sagging_Boundary_in_the_woods_files/shapeimage_1.png?w=800)
My acrylic paintings on panel are a lens through which to view an exhausted looking locale. This group of nets, tarps and grid-work of paintball husks was inspired by a recent paintball outing. Despite the sport of paintball being more painful than thrilling for me, I was unexpectedly drawn to the slimy boundary systems that were strung up among the trees around the paintball course. As I studied these sagging grids and tarps, I found them to be apt metaphors for my own struggle to maintain balance and order. Like these well-used boundary membranes, I too feel like I’m sagging under the burden of a gorgeous yet welt-inducing assault. I paint these scenes with an eagerness to translate my observed textures into an undulating surface. Stretched to define and protect, my tarps and I gradually submit to a garish pummeling.