Artist Statement:
How I make my abstract work is similar to how I work figuratively--painting in an intuitive manner in acrylic paint over a foundational layer of color.
This first layer I usually paint in well-blended hues, often to mimic the glowing presence of a soft but rich light source, or with softened patterns of color to create a space that is semi-earthly, perhaps heavenly, functioning as a stage or setting for the painting of a purely abstract image over it. I build with strokes, relating them to each other in regards to shape, size direction,color, and light quality. I build with them as objects with slightly varied material quality: planks of light, loops of clay, or arcs of translucent material. I allow a feeling of painterliness while building these illusionistic structures. The parts/strokes can have the look of weightiness in a place of weightlessness. The use of a deemphasized or absent horizon line allows the works to exist more easily as representatives of thoughts, internal or spiritual states, unseen or imaginary realms--or just as playgrounds for the eyes as the viewer follows the arcs and slides of the strokes.
Some works are solved in 2 layers, first the surface and then the building with paintstrokes, while others become more complex and are painted in multiple layers, the ground painted over again to move forward between and spilling over onto the structural marks.
I enjoy that there are figurative associations that can arise for the viewer--they can be varied and are subtle, and their existence relies entirely on the viewer's experience and projection of meaning in the abstract marks.
Although I describe here a particular basic approach I take to making abstract painting, I regularly explore and integrate new techniques into my work
2022
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2020
2018
2017
2016
Soft break 11x14"
1978 8x10 on paper
2015
2014
