Acrylic on canvas, 24”x24”.
When my paintings work...
Recently I did a kind of mental inventory and asked, “when my paintings work, what’s happening?” Here’s my answer.
1. Layers of opacity, things on top of things, some obscured, some showing through.
2. No planning beyond color choices. One mark leads to the next.
3. Dark colors over light, but also light colors over dark.
4. Elements of drawing, especially with sumi-e ink or scratched through to lower layers, done with a variety of mark-making tools.
5. Some figuration, almost always accidental.
6. Textures, but not too overt or worked, usually accidental.
7. A little bit of mystery. I’m not quite sure what is going on or being depicted, if anything.
8. Large elements and fine details.
9. Things are a bit of a mess in some ways. A little chaotic or hints of breakdown or chaos.
10. Size and scale matter. Large canvases do something powerful but small drawings also can charm.
11. A sense of struggle and effort. I can feel a tension in the work or in me as I view it. I can see the painter in the painting.
12. Unexpected things emerge over time with more looking.
13. I feel something I can’t quite define, a kind of positive disturbance.
NOTE: Most of these conditions are present in the work of others that I love.
New Paintings
Two recent paintings.
The Giver, Acrylic on canvas, 50”x54”.
Center Ring, Acrylic on Canvas, 40”x48”.
New Work, January 5, 2019
Acrylic on canvas, 40”x32”.
Pink Series
Acrylic and Sumi-e ink, 18”x24”.
Rainy Boston Night Series
New Show at The Cup, University Ave. in the Village, Muncie, Indiana.
Some larger works on paper, most about 35”x35”
An alternate version of a recent painting
September 9, 2018 trio
red rabbit
red lincoln
down boy
Self-Portrait with Hat
Out West
Monochrome drawing
New Paintings
Some recent work:
A note on process
Many of the paintings and drawings you see here begin as small sketchbook paintings (you can usually see the crease in the book as a giveaway sign). I like that small format. Then I photograph them and make some edits. The result is often pleasingly surprising and can result in multiple versions of a source work. I suppose it's no different than straight photography. I see something in the world that prompts a response and make an image of it. With the painting/photos it's the same -- I see the source painting I've created and then photograph it.
So, while I maintain separate galleries for paintings/drawings and photographs, they all begin from the same impulse. Both processes are satisfying.