"Laguna, 2015," is 30x30", liquid acrylic on canvas.  Not much to say except I love any excuse to paint water.  This piece took about 12 hours to complete (4-5 sessions).  I got some good basic compositional content from an image I found online but went off-photo for the last session in order to model the water more and give it more dimension and movement.

"Botanical Series I & II," are more small studies of the new technique, 15x11" each, acrylic wash on paper.  These are again meant to be just impressions of things, not full renderings.  I love the implication.  Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  

I attended a short art workshop this weekend with a local abstract painter named Joe DiGiulio.  He has a wonderfully loose and spontaneous approach to abstract work and I am always looking for new abstract techniques.  I find his method particularly suitable for organic subject matter such as trees, flowers, rocks... I had an hour to create a couple of small pieces in the class and these are what I came up with.  They are quarter sheets (15x11" acrylic on watercolor paper).  I think next I will do some botanical subjects using this strategy.

"Umstead Reflections, 2015," is a large acrylic on canvas painting at 48x60," another installation in my Umstead Park series.  The darks are not quite as heavy as they show in the photograph but it's close.  This piece took about 15 total hours to complete.  I started it half a year ago and then set it aside to work on other projects.  This week I had a chance (and the right mindset) to work on it again.  I don't know yet where it will end up.  Happy Thursday!

"Autumn Cascade" is pastel on sanded tinted paper, 26 1/2 by 19".  I know I'm not alone when I say I get inspired by the amazing fall trees here in central NC this time of year.  I particularly love how the golds pop against a silvery gray sky, even better when there's been rain.  When I started this piece I knew I wanted to capture that glittery feeling but I didn't want to render a realistic tree.  I wanted to do something more stylized and graphic.  Working with pastels on a dark paper gives quick and dynamic results and moves the painting in a very definite direction.  I ended up carving out my forms using negative shapes (the spaces between things), and I left parts of the dark background showing through to add interest and clarity.  I wanted the image of the tree to break free toward the top so there's a lot of the paper showing there.  Here is a snapshot of the process.

I haven't posted in a while but I have a couple of paintings that are close to completion.  They'll be posting soon.  Happy Monday!  

"Cosmic Tapestry I & II" are 30x22" each, acrylic on paper.  It's a minimal concept that started with "what if?"  The square image was simple.  After painting my initial square, I cut it into strips and split them down the middle, then wove them together.  For the circle, in order to end up with a round shape, I had to split the strips not down the middle but alternating each one.  Then when I wove them to together, I still had a circle but also negative shapes within it.  I had no idea when I started piecing these together again what they would look like, hence the "what if?"  I really like the simplicity of the idea and also how it lets the materials take the lead.  These remind me of very early computer graphics...

"Silver Linings I & II," are mixed media collages on paper, 22x30" each.  I started with a vague need to paint clouds with a silver lining (for therapeutic reasons).  I did not have a goal with these works so it was a free process of experimenting with different materials and washes.  They are clearly clouds but the grid adds a layer of meaning to the titles too.  You can't see it very well in the pictures but the surface is quite interesting due to the papers that were used.  Happy Friday!