Depicting dualities

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Port Townsend artist Paula Livingston is showing a diverse collection of her pieces at Pippa’s Real Tea in January and February.

It’s a “real variety show,” Livingston said of the abstract and realistic pieces she’s done in various mediums – from graphic design to paintings to collage – in a range of styles and sizes.

Livingston and her husband moved to Port Townsend eight years ago from Seattle, where she had a career as a graphic artist. “We were looking for a place that had a really good sense of community.” Port Townsend was a good fit, with its emphasis on the arts. “It’s surprising how long it took us to realize that our perfect place was so close to where we were living already,” she said.

Livingston’s art is philosophically inspired by the work of three other Americans, she said: author John Steinbeck, photojournalist Dorothea Lange and Northwest artist William Cumming. “They bring dignity and interest to everyday people,” Livingston said, adding that is something to which she also strives. “There’s more behind a person than meets the eye.” There’s complexity and confusion, she said, but there’s also dignity.

Her paintings also explore dualities: companionship and loneliness, vulnerability and courage, depth and superficiality, and optimism in the face of difficulties.

Currently, she is honoring the value of play in her creativity. “Every time I spend time playing, some good comes of it,” she said.

This is her fourth show at the downtown tea shop. “[Pippa Mills] has been very generous and very supportive of artists in our community,” Livingstone said of the owner. “I owe her a great ‘thank you.’”

The show began Jan. 2 and runs through Feb. 26. Livingston is to attend the show during First Saturday Art Walk, taking place from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Jan. 7. Pippa’s is located at 636 Water St.