Painting and Drawing

My paintings, almost all done with oil paint, are the most fluid medium I use. As mentioned, I learned to paint at a very young age, with encouragement and enthusiasm and in feelings that could not be expressed in simplistic words. Paintings pour out of me sometimes, sometimes are planned, but mostly leak onto the canvas like memories of something that had not yet been done. Always painstaking, sometimes pressured and sometimes intuitive.

Some of them are pure oil paintings, with thick brushstrokes and contrasting hues. I occasionally paint in other mediums but mostly oils. In some of them however, I have used other materials alongside of this. Sometimes it adds dimension to the work, or a particular texture reminiscent of something pertinent, or sometimes a gaping quality or emptiness. These disparate surfaces create different tactile surfaces and also sometimes are used for reflection. Reflection, besides being an aesthetic anomaly in a painting, provides a metaphorical invitation to be part of the piece. I have a whole series of paintings on glass and mirrors, which I believe brings the audience closer to participating in the work itself, as they are reflected and bring their own movement in current time into each display.

As a traditional artist, I have done work also on other surfaces. Painting on wood or metal or cardboard is not unusual. Sometimes I like to paint on found objects, as I think this lends some unconscious material to the piece, Whatever you might associate with the object. I of course also draw, and use paper for making drawings, ink art, and other types of things.

Recently I have found I have been fascinated by words. It feels a bit ironic because part of painting is saying things I cannot say in words. Of course, during all of these years I have been painting, I have also been writing prose and poetry. And as you can see, I do not believe that our artworks are so separated, and I believe that to evolve is to be open-minded and allow for new ideas. So I have been working on new ideas with my words, and have used words in painting, photography, jewelry, mixed-media, as well as collage.