Abstract Mixed Media Paintings With a Story: Introducing Echoes of the Soul
Have you ever experienced a moment so meaningful that you wished you could hold it still?
That is how I felt at the opening reception for my solo exhibition at Springfield Town Center. There were cameras, familiar faces, unexpected opportunities, and more than a few tears of gratitude. After so many quiet hours creating abstract mixed media paintings in my Fairfax, Virginia, studio, I found myself surrounded by people who wanted to celebrate the work and the story behind it.
I am still taking it in.
At the same time, I am preparing to share a new collection that explores the quieter side of connection: the memories, intuitions, and parts of ourselves we recognize before we can fully explain them.
It is called Echoes of the Soul, and sharing it feels like opening another deeply personal chapter.
An Opening Night I Will Never Forget
When Todd and I arrived for the reception on October 21, CBS was already there with cameras ready.
An unexpected interview could easily have sent my nerves into overdrive. Instead, I felt surprisingly grounded. Talking about the heart behind my paintings felt natural. I knew why I had made them and what I hoped they might offer someone encountering them.
The exhibition, Through Me: Where Wonder Finds a Way, features nine large mixed media paintings at Springfield Town Center, presented in partnership with ArtsFairfax. Having the work brought into this public space has been an extraordinary opportunity to share it with people throughout Northern Virginia.
As the evening unfolded, the room filled with friends, family, and supporters. Virginia State Delegate Garrett McGuire, whom I have known for 13 years, spoke about my evolution as an artist. Hearing someone who has known me across different chapters reflect on that journey moved me to tears.
Stuart Holt from ArtsFairfax shared why I had been chosen as the featured artist, giving me another moment I will carry with me for a very long time.
I also had the pleasure of connecting with Supervisor Rodney Lusk, who invited me to tour the new government center and consider artwork for its permanent space. It was an exciting invitation and a conversation I look forward to continuing.
Throughout the evening, I kept returning to the same feeling: gratitude that these paintings had brought us together.
The People Behind the Paintings
Creating can look solitary from the outside. Much of my work happens with just me, the materials, and a painting that may or may not be cooperating.
But there is a whole village behind those studio hours.
My friends and family have encouraged me through uncertainty, celebrated opportunities, and reminded me to keep going when things felt difficult. The teams at ArtsFairfax and Springfield Town Center helped create a setting where the paintings could be experienced and celebrated.
And then there is Todd.
He adds the D-rings, helps move the canvases, drives the artwork, and quietly films moments he knows I will want to remember. His support reaches into every part of this creative life.
Looking around the reception, I could see so much of that care reflected back to me. The paintings had come from my studio, but getting them into that room had involved many hands and generous hearts.
Abstract Mixed Media Paintings Inspired by Memory and Intuition
While Through Me is meeting new viewers, another collection is getting ready to leave the studio.
Echoes of the Soul is a body of six original abstract mixed media paintings exploring memory, intuition, identity, and the quieter parts of ourselves that continue to speak beneath everyday noise.
I am interested in those moments when something feels familiar before we understand why. A color might remind us of a place we cannot quite name. A shape may bring forward a feeling we thought we had forgotten. Sometimes we recognize a part of ourselves through an image without needing a literal explanation.
This collection grew around that sense of recognition.
Luminous turquoise, teal, deep ocean blues, and greens move through the paintings. Floating forms, organic lines, and tactile textures create passages that invite a closer look. Fragments of asemic writing—expressive marks that resemble writing without a fixed, readable message—suggest communication while leaving the meaning open.
My intuitive process allows those relationships to develop gradually. I build layers, respond to what appears, and notice which elements seem to carry the feeling forward.
The finished work holds that exploration while making room for your own associations.
Six Paintings, Different Ways to Connect
The collection includes four 18-by-18-inch originals and two larger 36-by-48-inch paintings.
The smaller works invite an intimate encounter. You can spend time with a passage of color, follow a line, or notice how one layer reveals something beneath it. Their scale offers opportunities to bring original art into a more personal corner of your home.
The larger paintings offer a different physical experience. Their expansive surfaces give the forms and layers room to unfold, inviting you to move between the whole composition and its smaller discoveries.
For someone drawn to blue and teal abstract paintings, the palette may be the first point of connection. But I hope the relationship deepens as you look.
Perhaps a particular work brings a feeling of calm or recognition. Perhaps its movement feels energizing. You may see a suggestion of water, an interior landscape, or something entirely your own.
You do not need to identify what a painting “means” before you can connect with it. Paying attention to how it makes you feel is a meaningful beginning.
Reclaiming Wonder in the Messy Middle
The questions within my paintings also shape my work as an educator and speaker.
After nearly three decades of teaching art, I remain fascinated by the curiosity and freedom children bring to creating. My own experiences have deepened my interest in how adults can reconnect with that openness while carrying the complexity of everything we have lived.
I will explore these ideas in my session for the Creative Care Summit 2026, a free virtual gathering taking place November 9–12.
My prerecorded presentation, “Reclaiming Wonder: How Creativity Helps Us Navigate the Messy Middle,” will be available on Wednesday, November 11. It considers how curiosity, play, and creative expression can help us approach uncertain seasons with greater openness.
No previous art experience is required.
These conversations matter to me because wonder has become something I practice in both art and life. It begins with paying attention, allowing a question, or being willing to discover something I could not have planned.
How to Preview Echoes of the Soul
Echoes of the Soul will be released to my VIP newsletter community on Monday, November 2, 2026, before opening to the public on Friday, November 6.
If you would like an advance look, I am opening my private Collector’s Vault for preview requests.
Visit the contact page at preciousburger.com and send me a message with PREVIEW. I will personally send you the private password so you can explore the six paintings, read their stories, and inquire about reserving the work that speaks to you. I will add you to my VIP Collector's List so that you will have access to artwork drops (releases) first! :)
I would love for you to have time to look closely and discover your own connection before the public release.
Last week reminded me how powerful it feels to have people show up for something you have made. As this new collection prepares to meet the world, I am carrying that encouragement back into the studio.
Thank you for making room for the work, the stories, and every unfolding chapter. 🩵
Precious Burger
Contemporary Mixed Media Artist
Fairfax, Virginia | Washington, DC Region
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