The Age of Time V – 1821 is the latest addition by the artist to her collection, The Age of Time that belongs to her Reflections series. In this particular piece we see Roberta taking on a journey of exploration in unchartered waters. The artist enquires and experiences painting on a more unlevel and textured canvas. Upon inspection its surface is smooth yet uneven and it comprises 200 rings, painted individually, ring by ring from the center moving outward. Also in this particular piece, the artist adds the use of pigment pens to create shading in the ‘cracks’ by using very tiny dots that gradually fade out.

Never before Roberta mixed different media in this collection, this is the first time that the artist expresses herself in this way, slightly modifying her MO. “I had an idea, which was to add little dots to the cracks and openings in the ring growth of the tree, it felt as a natural direction considering that I do drip paint all over the canvas to create sort of a universe, a background, maybe in a way to elevate the presence and spirit of the painting. In all those little dots that happen in those cracks there are little worlds of their own, like stars, constellations, planets and so forth.” “This piece dates back to 1821, 200 years ago, and here is what I found out about that year. A significant event for the advancement of humanity was the patent of the cotton/rubber fire hose by James Boyd that revolutionized the field and which technology is still used today as it dramatically improved the safety and practicality of the originally leather fire hose as it was designed and handstitched together in the 1700s.