The current body of work consists of landscapes and beach scenes, but with more abstracted version of these images than in the past. Water continues to fascinate me, always changing with reflection and movement. Sunsets and their rapid shifting displays of vividly-hued light serve as constant, natural source for the play of abstract color.
My new paintings distill the world I see to the essence of its basic coloration. By reducing scenes to color dabs of light and shadow, I am able to recreate the feeling of a setting without an actual depiction through line. The color creates shape and form, as well as the feeling of space and distance.
The paintings are in oil on canvas. Initially, under-painting is laid down, using a little paint medium to quickly cover areas with color. The actual brush strokes are applied somewhat thickly to obtain a textural effect. Part of the process is very deliberate, including the preparatory step of working with photographs to establish the image and the color relationships. But finally it is the visual impact that has to satisfy the emotional impression of the setting.
Part of this impact is directly evoking the feeling of the place, a sense of calm or the shimmer of water, as well as a series of abstract sensations that range from the size of the brush stokes to each painting’s distinctive color palette. The process of realizing the painting’s final impact can take place quickly, over a number of days, or it may be achieved more slowly, after months of work.
My hope is that the viewer will feel like they are standing in the painting’s setting, a sort of transporting of the individual’s soul to that location. I would like people to have a visceral reaction to the work, as if they were witnessing a magnificent sunset that filled them, yet was intangible to the touch.
