Abstract artwork of water surface with swirling patterns in blue, gray, and white tones.

Water

Please visit the Synergy page for additional water images.

IN A CURATOR’S WORDS

Contemporary artist Heather Stivison transports us to transcendent realms in her “Water Series” where the inherent nuances of nature’s aqueous properties arouse a palpable visceral force. We are lulled into a euphoric reverie that awakens and restores our mind and soul.

Stivison ventures beyond nature’s physical boundaries into abstraction with the profusion of free-flowing biomorphic patterns and tonal ranges. In her paintings the innate attributes of water evolve into metaphors, symbolism and visual poetry. She emphasizes the varied atmospheric influences of elements and their rhythmic interactions. The warm luminosity of the sun and the gentle whispers of the wind create radiant ripples that coalesce in contrast and harmony.

In Stivison’s paintings the entity of familiarity is fused with an altered sense of reality and holistic spiritual perspective where dimension, space and time exist without boundaries and barriers. We are propelled into a powerful awareness of unlimited possibilities and potential above and beyond sight.

In her “Water Series” Stivison’s versatility and expert approach to artistic concepts and mediums shine with innovation and expansive variation. The dynamic and confident power of creation pulsates from every brushstroke and composition.

In Feng Shui water signifies adaptability, abundance, and emotional depth. These healing modalities and more emanate from Stivison’s paintings and provide a haven of renewal, restoration, and personal growth.

Renee Phillips, Director &Curator, Manhattan Arts International
and The Healing Power of ART & ARTISTS, New York, NY

IN THE ARTIST’S WORDS

I don’t “illustrate” water as in a plein air painting or photograph. Instead, I paint to capture the essence of water—something clear and colorless, with a shape entirely formed by external forces of objects, land, wind, gravity. Searching for water’s most primary qualities, I use light, color, form, shape, line, to engender a sense of water. Fluidity, reflections, rhythms are evident on the surface, while a sense of weightlessness and mystery are found in the unknown ocean depths. 

Water has held such a deep fascination for me that I have approached it differently in several bodies of work,
including in the solo shows Quench (2017); Surrounded by Water (2021); the Synergy series Visualizing the Unseen (2020-2024);
and the two person show,
Duets: Two artists & Our Blue Planet (2025) . It is also the focus of my upcoming solo show,
Ebb & Flow: The Many Faces of Water (September 2025).

Four abstract paintings with blue, green, and brown tones hanging on a white wall in a gallery setting.

ABOVE: Beneath the Surface is a quadriptych that developed from my interest in water and my interest in the sublime. I used texture to suggest the “noise” and mystery beneath the ocean. I used water as a metaphor for “going deep” into a place in our mind where we no longer hear the barrage of news and jangle of daily minutia that assaults us. Instead, we float in the unknown mystery of our thoughts and memories, exploring places that can be dark and unsettling, or can fill us with new light. This work has been exhibited at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, the University of Connecticut at Avery Point, and in a solo show at the Cape Cod Cultural Center.

Oil over Acrylic. 36x110 inches. $10,800.

SURFACE PATTERNS

I am fascinated by the reflections and patterns created by the coastal ocean surface and want to explore the different ways I might strip down shapes to simpler forms. I paint variations on patterns, exploring how much I can change them and still maintain the sense that the subject is surface water.

Abstract painting of water with gentle waves

Ribbons of Water. Acrylic on Canvas. 18x24 inches. [SOLD]

Abstract painting depicting water with blue, gray, and beige strokes.

Water 1. Oil over Acrylic on Canvas. 16x20 inches.
$700

Abstract painting of a water surface with reflections

Water 4. Acrylic on Canvas. 20x24 inches.
[SOLD]

Abstract painting depicting swirling patterns and colors resembling water ripples

Heading Upstream. Acrylic on Canvas. 18x24 inches. $850

Abstract painting of swirling water with shades of blue, gray, and beige.

Water 7. Acrylic on Canvas. 16x20 inches.
$700

Abstract painting with blue, beige, white, and grey swirling patterns

Water 5. Acrylic on Canvas. 16x20 inches.
$700

Abstract painting of water with ripples and varying shades of blue, green, and pink.

Water 6. Oil over Acrylic on Canvas. 12x36 inches.
$1,500

Abstract painting depicting water surface with reflections in blue, gray, and white tones.

Indian Space: Water 2. Acrylic on Canvas. 12x36 inches
[SOLD]

Abstract painting with swirling colors of blue, gray, green, and yellow, resembling the reflection of light on water.

Water 3. Oil over Acrylic on Canvas. 24x24 inches.
$1,500 [ON TEMPORARY HOLD]

BEYOND THE SURFACE

And More About Water

Two short hand drawn cell phone videos about water

Washed Away

This video was shown in the international juried exhibition Perspectives 2021 and presented in CICA-Czong Institute for Contemporary Art, South Korea

“Washed Away” is a hand-drawn video utilizing very limited materials: two sheets of paper, charcoal, eraser, and a cell-phone. Its vertical format suggests a looking through a window, offering a hint of voyeurism. It speaks of human life, desires, and intertwines the many meanings of water— especially its life-giving and life-taking qualities. With 60% of our bodies composed of water, humans are water-based creatures. 70% of our planet's surface is covered water, and it is essential to our very existence. We develop into human form protected by the water in our mother's womb. Each night, we exhale water into the air around us. When we are overwhelmed by emotion, salty wet tears overflow our eyes. Water is used in our cleansing rituals and sacred ceremonies. And yet it also has the power to destroy out lives, and to wipe out villages and entire cities.


The drawings in this video recognize the small scale of a human life in comparison to the eternal power of water. The immeasurable forces of water existed long before humans ever walked the face of the earth. And the throbbing pulsing cycles of tides and waves will continue long after we are gone. The drawings speak of transitions to the eternal. We live for a moment, and then are gone, changed, and consumed to be formed anew.

Poetry of Water

This video was created for the Buzzards Bay Coalition, and premiered in their New Bedford, Massachusetts Education Space.

“Poetry of Water” is a hand-drawn video created to remind residents of the pleasures of water in their community and world. The video presentation was accompanied by a handout of the same name, shown below