Ground Register: First Frost, 2018

Gouache, screen print, and site material on panels
42 × 32 in.

In Ground Register: First Frost (2018), Josephine Halvorson captures a section of ground where a delicate layer of frost traces the contours of earth and debris. Executed in gouache, screen print, and site material on panel, the work incorporates a measured ruler along one edge corresponding to the scale of the plants and a painted palette indexing every color used in the making of the painting. Though the composition reads as cool and silvery, the palette reveals a wider range of hues, reflecting Halvorson’s ability to marshal paint’s full range to evoke the atmosphere and sensation of winter.