Statement

My landscape paintings are more about the memory or the mood of a particular site, rather than a journalistic recording of it. In the studio I will edit and reinvent the landscape I have seen so that the composition, surface, and colors are more interesting and evocative. It then becomes more of a metaphor for a state of mind. There is often a sense of division in my images. Perhaps the reason I am attracted to the geometry and symmetry found or made in nature is because I have an identical twin. The arrangement of the elements, however simple, is crucial; it's almost as if I'm arranging a still-life. Ponds that are completely still in time, paths that lead to an unknown destination, manicured trees, and single plant forms in front of a landscape; these are themes I have been working with for years.

I have also been working with botannical images; some are set against a big sky which creates the space of a landscape. There is a dichotomy between the careful studied plant and the painterly background. On some of these paintings I have painted the pattern of holes from notebook paper or sketchbooks, and/or the patterns inside of books, which alludes to the entire idea of making art, sketching, recording and keeping journals.

The surface of these paintings is equally as important as the imagery. Many are painted with a palette knife, sanded, then repainted, adding layers and veils of color upon color to create a kind of optical blending and luminosity. This surface treatment also creates an aged patina suggestive of a history, and reveals some of the process of painting. As the images reveal, some of the images are heavily abraided, while others are not.

Throughout my career as an artist and illustrator I have worked with alternative photographic processes. The photo-emulsion medium renders a mysterious and ephemeral effect which is exaggerated with the addition of oil paint or charcoal. The images shown are just a few samples of my work with this medium.

"For Tenenbaum the natural world acts as a passage to otherwise intangible realities. Her soft moody landscapes hint at somewhere to go; beach paths lead away from us and distances beckon. In these realist yet dreamlike paintings she paints an internal, inaccessable spot amid all the sunshine."
The Boston Globe

"Tenenbaum's images resonate with colors tinged by subtly restrained emotions and sublimated memories. Her paintings are haunting elegies to moments of private reflections that speak hidden messages to everyone."
Art New England