Changing Terrain:
Regional Artists Interpret Our Landscape
September 11 —
December 20, 2026
OMA West at The Seabird
Annex Gallery of Oceanside Museum of Art
Oceanside, California
Char of the Ridge, 2026
Acrylic on Canvas
36 x 36 inches
CHAR OF THE RIDGE — SURFACE DETAIL
Acrylic on Canvas
36 × 36 inches
ASH MILLET / PAINTING
Char of
the Ridge
Where Destruction Meets Renewal.
Char of the Ridge began as a raw, unplanned brunaille underpainting built with textural mediums. Left untouched for years, its landscape began to reveal itself during the 2025 Palisades fire. Shaped by fear, grief, and inspiration following a cross-country move to Southern California, the work gradually took on form and meaning.
Over the course of a year and a half, successive layers of translucent glazes brought the composition to life, reaching completion as wildfires continued to impact the San Diego region, including a recent evacuation experience.
While rooted in the increasingly volatile landscape of Southern California, the work also serves as a visual representation of personal transformation. It explores the fragility of perceived safety, the disorientation of leaving behind what was once familiar, and the uncertainty of what lies beyond. Through imagery of destruction and renewal, the painting considers how forces beyond our control can reshape the course of our lives, and how even in the wake of profound loss, unexpected beauty, wisdom, and possibility may emerge.
See exhibition details (opens in a new tab)Acrylic on Canvas
36 × 36 inches
ASH MILLET / PAINTING
Contained
What Stirs Beneath the Surface.
Contained explores the tension between imposed stillness and internal transformation, and the ways in which change can unfold even when the world around us appears to stand still. Created during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, the work reflects a collective experience of confinement, fear, and uncertainty, alongside the complex emotional realities of prolonged isolation.
Its dense, heavily textured surface, marked by scratches and layered imperfections, evokes the psychological weight of confinement and the passage of time. The accumulation of marks suggests an internal landscape shaped by tension, vulnerability, and the desire for release. Beneath its seemingly static exterior lies a quiet struggle between suppression and emergence, reflecting the possibility that even in periods of apparent stagnation, profound transformation may be underway.
See exhibition details (opens in a new tab)
THE CREATIVE PROCESS
An organic dialogue
between intention and discovery.
Currently in development, Solar Flare I is an ongoing exploration of energy, movement, and the expressive possibilities of color. Emerging from a richly textured foundation, the composition continues to evolve as new relationships between light, depth, and form take shape.
Color · Texture · Exploration
Based in San Diego, California
Visual Artist CV
Selected exhibitions
2026
OMA West at The Seabird
Oceanside, California
September 11–December 20, 2026
Char of the Ridge
Acrylic on Canvas
36 x 36 inches
2025
Gallery 271, MiraCosta College
Oceanside, California
May 19–23, 2025
Char of the Ridge
Acrylic on Canvas
36 x 36 inches
Contained
Acrylic on Canvas
36 x 36 inches