¨Forces of Nature: When lava meets water ¨ is a personal collage series inspired by the Volcano eruption in La Palma. On September 19th 2021, a volcano erupted on this island in the Canary Islands. The eruption lasted 3 months.

Although the volcano destroyed many homes, no lives were lost. Throughout the eruption the media coverage was vast, making it almost imposible to think of anything else.

The force, beauty, and strength of the volcano have a hypnotic effect, but what impressed me the most was the moment the hot, boiling lava spilled into the ocean. The collision of these two forces is why I chose to  create this series of collage.

To illustrate such a phenomenon, I decided to work with cyanotypes to illustrate the ocean, and forms of life represented by different plant, bark and other natural materials. Once ready, I added different paper cutouts in a variety of shiny colors like gold, orange paper to illustrate the lava. Some of them include details in gold leaf resembling the bright colors lava shows at nigh.

The result is 10 mixed media artworks in size A4 (8-1/4 x 11-3/4 in) matted in white.

“Creating this work has helped me to focus on something positive; amidst all the destruction, I have learned that oceans heal faster from lava than the earth does, making life possible after just a couple of months. This series has been a reminder of that throughout the creation process. ”