Many of the paintings in "Found Meditations" are inspired by Silve’s morning walks through the neighborhoods of Portland. She pauses to consider and appreciate the color of a particular flower in a garden, the morning fog in the distance along Alameda drive, or the startling rush of coming upon a rare urban coyote. Others are inspired by the sculptures of John Chamberlain (1927-2011) with whom she has been fascinated since viewing his retrospective at the Guggenheim. She is awe struck by his success at combining rigid, impermeable materials to create expressive sculptures full of life and personality. Always, Silve is inspired by both the abundance of produce and the interactions of people at her local farmers’ market.
Only after Silve mentally records the immersive intimacy of being a part of an experience does she begin to visualize a painting. In her studio, she works in a more structural way to develop these paintings, working from the outside inward to capture the fullness of being immersed in life or nature. She builds her canvases with layer upon layer of color, much as Chamberlain built his sculptures by arranging layer upon layer of colored metal.