March 29, 2014   

I touch the canvas to feel its bite. I begin the image by drawing in broad arcs and swoops with paint sticks to define the space in which i will work. The curves provide a framework for the image. The color of the arcs and swoops informs the next layers. I prefer earthy purples and viridians. I wash transparent color over the acs. It kills the white and further creates the space. Siennas, umbers, purples, viridians and greens are good. At this point I will often drag lines in black or purple across the canvas with a long bristled filbert brush, twirling the brush and changing directions to evoke organic edges. The lines create more space and hold the next layers of paint like a scaffold. Broad semi-opaque strokes are next. I mix zinc white with pigments to produce opaque color that is informed by what is covers. More squiggly lines follow along with more opaque brush strokes and splotches and splatters. i build up a web of lines and brush strokes and splatters reminiscent of Jackson Pollack paintings. Next, I Introduce a random element by folding the canvas and pressing paint into paint. Now the web is at its most random and and most pregnant state. I use opaque brush strokes and lines And palette knives to begin to tease out an image. This can be a quick and obvious process, most times it is slow, like reeling in a huge fish from the deep. I start the painting with no concept of what I want the image to be. However i do have expectations for the type of image that I want produce. I want it to be primitive and powerful, elegant and meaningful. Lately, I feel a strong connection with prehistoric art. I often think of the animal images from the cave at Lascaux and other, so-called, primitive art. The image emerges from line and space and organic and chaotic paint. I work back an forth with line, flat bush strokes, splatters and my fingers. If I am successful, the image is both visually and psychologically powerful. It invites multiple viewpoints and interpretations. It is not visual slight-of-hand. The image is an invitation to the viewer to wonder. I invite you to wonder about time and space and craft and content. I give you a framework, and a starting point, to muse about what it means to be human.