First Camelia 

Melissa Hefferlin’s *First Camelia* is an oil painting that revels in the texture and substance of its materials. The artist has used thick, visible brushstrokes, particularly in the background, that emphasize the paint's body, and the physical act of its application. Look closely, and you can see how the artist loaded her brush, and dragged it across the surface. The shadow of the bottle, rendered in a flat, almost poster-like blue, is a stark contrast to the fleshy, three-dimensional flower, a camelia, that dominates the composition. The choice of subject matter itself speaks to domesticity. It is a casual, everyday scene, elevated by the artist’s attention to form and color. But it is the artist's process, her engagement with the materiality of oil paint, that imbues this artwork with its meaning. It’s a reminder that even the most traditional mediums can be pushed, pulled, and made to speak in new and expressive ways.