The "hybrid of experiences" of living in both New York and Hawaii was one of the inspirations for Debra Drexler’s solo exhibit, "Staring Into the Sun," now on display at the ARTS at Marks Garage.

The show comprises about 30 large- and small-scale paintings that reflect the radiance of the sun. Drexler mixed pigment with glaze and added layer upon layer of the medium onto the canvas to luminous effect.

"I was influenced by the luminosity of the landscape and the brightness of the sun in Hawaii," she said.

Drexler said she painted nonstop for three months in both locations, working seven days a week, to produce the series. Her productivity was fueled by the New York art scene, where "there’s a real return to painting and abstraction. There’s a return to interest in process-driven art."

Perhaps most fundamental to her focus on the sun are her daily meditation experiences, when "I see the sun and connect with that expansiveness."

It’s a subject the artist is revisiting. Drexler produced her first sun series in the late 1980s when she examined the life force and energy of the sun from a distance.

"Now it’s an internal sun that’s coming through — the sun as metaphor for the eternal spirit," she said.