Painting
Why paint? I’ve been painting forever and the desire never stops. The impetus for a particular body of work always just comes. Color is important. What is not there is more important than what is. All of the work is about everything - being alive right now, here.
The painting part is a simple repetitive ritual which I have been doing since I was a kid: prep, mix, paint, clean, reflect, repeat. Putting all the marks together just right is the challenge. My brush work is like a fingerprint and a direct extension of my body. Like a poet who juxtaposes seemingly polarized words with one another to invent new meanings - I traverse the same wire with my language of paint and color. It must always move beyond the subject matter. I do not have a clear plan like a preliminary sketch to execute my piece. I’ll leave that approach to the surgeons and exterminators. Each painting I have loved requires a framework to allow being lost in the work and improvisation. That is where I might feel the creative sparks fly. It’s not a map, but it is an itinerary, and it takes me away in the moment.