I begin with an hour’s meditation. When I feel the cosmic connection has been made, I prepare 2 or 3 bowls of water based pigment – usually acrylic at this stage – lay the clay board panel flat on a table, shut my eyes and begin painting. The purpose of this method is to access the cosmic chi. I usually let each color dry before I apply the next layer – but sometimes not. When it feels ‘right’, I place it upright in a location where I can frequently see it throughout the days to come. When I perceive a place in the painting that reveals itself as a motif, I then begin working (with eyes fully open) to expand that motif which leads to the journey of what the painting is all about. It will partly involve the resolution and harmonizing of contrasts. This requires that I be tuned in to the energy of the colors, shapes, lines, etc.
Whimsical little animal or bird figures sometimes appear, sometimes human figures, sometimes not. The contrast between the soft watery flow of the paint and the harsh scratching into the clay board surface is essential to each painting. The scratch marks can be equated to a tangle of threads in a small loose bundle - as you begin to pull on each thread - now this way, now that way – the threads begin to tighten and a pattern begins to form and a meaning reveals itself. The entire process of making a painting is a kind of meditation where I am seeking archetypal energy forms to reveal themselves and then I am allowed to participate in their manifestation into physical forms. This enables the viewer (as well as myself) to bridge the gap between the physical and the spiritual. My subject is movement, energy, and change.
Whimsical little animal or bird figures sometimes appear, sometimes human figures, sometimes not. The contrast between the soft watery flow of the paint and the harsh scratching into the clay board surface is essential to each painting. The scratch marks can be equated to a tangle of threads in a small loose bundle - as you begin to pull on each thread - now this way, now that way – the threads begin to tighten and a pattern begins to form and a meaning reveals itself. The entire process of making a painting is a kind of meditation where I am seeking archetypal energy forms to reveal themselves and then I am allowed to participate in their manifestation into physical forms. This enables the viewer (as well as myself) to bridge the gap between the physical and the spiritual. My subject is movement, energy, and change.