Thoughts and Methods
It is difficult to talk about the substance of one’s own art; every day a new set of circumstances; every minute in the studio a new facing of one’s self. The time – honored tools and the found objects can be discussed. The types of canvas, the paints, the colors, the composition etc.. The creative process has been dissected into little pieces many times but we still try.
My method: It is my nature to want to create something significant, both for me and the viewer, something sacred. To make something with intrinsic value.
The textures, colors, markings, as well as the act of making something imbued with sensibility keep me painting.
My work is non-figurative, non-representational for the most part. ABSTRACT, yet filled with reference and history, elusive yet hopefully engaging.
Every time I start painting I seem to forget all I know; the blank canvas brings on a flood of doubt and anxiety, especially if it is a large piece of raw canvas. I like to work on big pieces.
By trial and error I have learned to overcome this vast expanse of blank canvas by first spraying the canvas with water and then using very diluted paints, spraying or painting with a huge brush making large random marks which will bleed into the canvas where they will.
This is my beginning
Each mark has a potential significance
Each mark works either immediately or does not. These marks are clues as to how the painting will evolve.
Stating with a porous base surface which retains the weave of the canvas also prevents reworking easily; this is both a reward and a challenge.
Texture, both in support canvas fabric and in the layering gesso and paint is a major factor in my work. I try to enhance the texture from the beginning. Sometimes I pull threads from the canvas and sometimes I embroider heavy linen threads to the surface, weaving in and out, below and above this surface, blurring the integrity of the support by incorporating these elements into or onto the artwork.
Shredding pieces of canvas, hanging the canvas without rigid support – from grommets or other hanging devices – collaging canvas to canvas (or other materials), allows the work to stay fluid and also dimensional. A composition begins to emerge.
Then more paint, thickly or thinly applied, wet or dry brushed, working the whole picture plane at once – wet into wet, dry into wet, working into collaged or stitched areas as well as some of the flatter areas.
Not being able to remove “mistakes” at this state but trying to apply marks in a confident manner causes much personal physical tension and concentration (no phone in the studio, thank you). Bleeding areas sometime go too far. Tilting the canvas, turning it around to accept runs is a fast immediate maneuver. Acrylic paint, especially diluted, dries quickly. Decisions must be made almost instantaneously. This is fast and tiring work.
The results can be interesting and exciting or can be mud.
One has to dare to keep going.
Color choices and decisions are alway present. Indeed, may be a starting point to a painting. For me, color is emotion – sometimes lush and enveloping – sometimes dark and brooding. (Black has always been a rich color for me.)
I love Matisse for his single-mindedness toward his lush colors throughout his career; and his tenacity in his continued use of historic textiles as references in his painting with their rich colorations and their decorative qualities. In spite of the critics deeming these props old fashioned, Matisse continued with his visions and obvious love of the oriental motifs and arabesques. Today all this is academic. But Matisse had to fight for his oeuvre in his day and indeed, until very recently, artists have been accused of being craftspeople if textiles were part of the “painting.” (I have been there!)
It is now possible to ignore precedents and do one’s own thing.
Emotions emerge when there is an instantaneous reaction to a painting. The gestalt of the here and now. When I have these reactions and think I have completed the work I put the painting away for while. “STOP! LEAVE IT!” is a sign in my studio from an instructor. Stop, wait and then reevaluate.
What a difficult thing to learn.
To achieve a controlled uncontrolled work of art requires leaps of faith as well as a sure eye and hand. To achieve a successful work, to know when it is finished and not make a mushy mess, to keep at it until the work is right if it isn’t quite there – without over-doing. This is the work in a work of art.
What do my paintings represent or project or signify? I like what Mark Rothko said when he refused explanations for his work? “Their explanation must come out of a consummated experience between picture and on looker.”