"Charleston Memory" is pastel on sanded paper, 27x19".  This started out as a literal portrayal of a scene I photographed on a trip to Charleston, a familiar and lovely sun-soaked plaza.  It was pretty enough but not very interesting to me.  I have never experimented with painting pastels with water on a brush so I decided to see what would happen.  There was a good chance it would lift the pastel and the sand off the paper and be toast.  Surprisingly, the water smoothly mixed with the chalk and with minimal application did not disrupt the paper.  The scene took on a dreamlike quality.  I like how the lines sort of walk through it.

"Push and Pull" is acrylic on wood, quite large at 45x96".  This piece was requested for a large open work space after I completed my recent work, "Citrus."  The layering of circles in this technique builds up a very dynamic surface.  While there's a great deal of energy and movement, keeping the palette soft and the grid parallel to the frame lends stability and quietness.  I enjoyed how differently the paint interacted with the wood verses canvas.  It's difficult to see here but the texture created by the repeated application and removal of paint is interesting up close. 

"Jasper I & II" are acrylic on panel, 14x15" each.  These were part of my recent pouring experiments.  The highly organic outcome you tend to get with pouring can feel both internally and externally familiar.  These reminded me of one of my favorite minerals, jasper. 

"Citrus" is 36x48", acrylic on canvas.  The under-painting was scraped with a tool meant for creating faux wood effects in scenery.  The resulting grooves made for a fun foundation and gave the surface interest.  My loose goal with this one was just more experimentation with the circular template I found in the shop dumpster.  :)  I love the depth the overlays create, both with the positive circular shapes and the negative diamond shapes in-between.  This piece has a lot of pleasing movement and color for me. 

"Phases" is an acrylic pouring on canvas, 36x36, with a circular cut-away mask applied to it.  I won't get into the grueling details of the development; the mystery is appealing in this one.  I love how the combination of the banded pouring and rows of circles creates a rotating motion, the most obvious association being of planets.

"Breakaway I & II" are acrylic pourings on canvas, 18x24" each.  For the past few days I've been experimenting with a new technique involving acrylic pouring on either panel or canvas.  There are a couple of different mediums that can be added to the paint to enhance the flow factor (and slow drying).  You can also add silica to the paint which creates a resist.  Then after the paint is applied and starts to set up, you hit it with a blowtorch to bring up and pop the silica bubbles/beads.  That creates spots in the paint surface where under-layers can rise up and interact with the top layers.  As with any water medium, you can also spray it with water to create washes and bleeds or alcohol to add further resistance.  All very interesting and all very out-of-control and wait-and-see.  You can tilt the substrate to manipulate the paints, which can be cool but also be a disaster.  It's a trial and error process but the results, when they are successful, are beautiful.  So I could better focus on the process, I kept the composition of these two very simple. 

"Golden" is 36x36", acrylic on canvas.  I started this painting last fall when the leaves were at their most brilliant.  Every year I get inspired by the colors and want to paint them.  There's a spot on campus where I like to walk with large maple trees that turn an indescribable shade of yellow.  When you stand underneath and look up you are consumed with the color.  When I first painted this, it was all large gestural brushwork, attempting to capture that feeling at that moment.  Then I got pulled to other projects and this one sat in the corner of my studio untouched until last week.  I sat with it for a bit, deciding where it should go.  I wanted to add some mark-making but not overly define the content, something similar to a minimalistic yet highly rendered Japanese ink painting. 

"Serendipity" is large at 28x96", acrylic on board.  This is a very custom size to hang in a lobby breakout over a long counter.  It was originally inspired by another abstract I painted many years ago.  I really enjoyed the technique of freely applying the large intersecting arcing lines, then finding the design within.  I challenged myself to minimize the palette with this one, keeping to mostly a warm range of orange and told tones and establishing the composition using a complimentary range of blues and grays.  I like that this piece is energetic without being aggressive.  There's a great deal of texture in the surface that's difficult to convey here but you get the idea.  Happy Friday! 

"Array" is a quadtych with each panel at 18x18x1.5".  I hesitate to explain this piece because I think knowing the story and process will make it feel less elegant and more crafty, but what the heck.  I recently came across a box of old acrylic samples in our shop that we were throwing away.  They were so interesting and diverse, I felt like surely something could be done with them.  I remembered we also had four wood wall panels sitting around that were left over from a previous project.  I started arranging the squares, then rearranging them and rearranging them again.  I had to work on a flat table surface which meant it was difficult to assess the design.  I had a ladder and I climbed up, looked down, took a picture with my phone, climbed down, made adjustments, lather rinse repeat for several hours until I liked the design.

Then came the challenge of how to actually build it.  I have never done anything remotely like this.  I tested out a few different adhesives because most of the pieces range from translucent to completely clear.  That meant the adhesive would be visible.  I settled on silicone because it dries totally clear and stays supple long enough to work with it a bit.  Even then it had to be applied very intentionally because it is visible.  Patterns and spread were important.  As a painter this is not something I've ever considered but fortunately I am surrounded by building material experts.  The next challenge was that most of the pieces had a small hole in the corner where they were attached to a bead chain.  I decided to put screws in the holes to hide them and add another element to the structure.  I drilled the holes through to the back so they could be secured all the way through.  I love the added element of the dark silver screw caps to the overall aesthetic.  This project was labor intensive and took me completely out of my wheelhouse.  I loved it!  The possibilities are endless...

"I Dreamed of a Farmhouse" is pastel on sanded paper, 20x26".  I wanted to get my hands back into pastels so I'll be doing a couple more pretty soon.  This is once again starting with a toned background, a warm medium brown color.  There's still a fair amount of it showing through and setting the earthy palette for the piece.  The sky in my source photograph was white and washed out, not at all interesting.  Much of the coloration in this piece is invented and to me feels dreamlike, hence the title.  I always enjoy the softness and glints of color you can achieve with pastel.

"Wednesday Silhouette, 2017," is 30x30", acrylic on canvas.  This piece was actually painted a few months ago but I forgot to post it.  It started, once again, as a "brush rag," a loose and gestural sidepiece.  The under-painting had beautiful color which I wanted to emphasize.  I decided to do a still-life but wanted an unconventional approach.  I used negative-shapes (the spaces between) to create a silhouette of a vase of flowers against a window.  I left the right side undefined to emphasize the effect of a recognizable object coming to life with just a few carefully-applied flat shapes.

"Firefly, 2017" is 30x40", mixed media on canvas.  It started as one of my "brush rags," collecting whatever paint I had on my brush at the time from another painting.  Gradually it took on a personality.  Shapes were forming in the random brushwork.  Yesterday I decided to experiment with mark-making using oil pastel over the acrylic, carving out some of those shapes.  Then I went back in with paint, adding more layers.  I like the movement and depth, and the flicker of light throughout makes me think of fireflies dancing around at dusk.  I honestly think this piece would be dynamic at a monumental scale, at least 6x8'.  Perhaps this was a study for a future painting.  :)  

"Aquarius" is 48x87", aluminum panel.  It's not a painting.  The water shapes were created with a large metal grinder. 

This piece is based entirely on reflection.  It changes and breathes as you walk past it. 

Water has long been a favorite subject for me (like so many artists) because of its movement and line.  I've been wanting to experiment with painting water on metal to play with that literal reflectivity of the material.  My original plan for this piece was to grind in some shapes, then paint the water on top, then hit it with the grinder again for highlights.  However, as I started building the water content just with the grinder, the simplicity of that and the sparkly results grew more and more appealing.  Ultimately the consensus from me and my colleagues was to let it be all about the throw of light and not add paint.  Sadly, it doesn't photograph all that well, but you get the idea.

"Venice Shadows, 2017" is acrylic on canvas, 48x36".  I have many projects in process and last week I just really needed to start something and finish it.  I decided to go with a familiar and blissful subject matter for me (and lots of people, I imagine).  The photograph hides a lot of the subtlety in the darks but it's good enough.  I took this picture in Venice in 2004 while on a visit there with my dad.  This could be the view in any of a thousand spots in that little city.  I'll be posting at a better pace here soon as I start wrapping up various things in the works.  Happy Thursday! 

"Outside the Box, 2017," is 36x36", acrylic on canvas.  I had no clue where this piece would land.  I started out wanting to do a minimal still life of boxes, focusing on line and perspective.  I created the little scene below and then blocked it in.

From there the painting took a more abstract exploratory turn... playing around with flat verses modeled and multiple perspectives.