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What Did You Have in Mind?

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What Did You Have in Mind?

The question I am asked most often about my art is some version of, “Do you start with something in mind?” My answer is, “Yes, but what I have in mind is probably not what you would expect. It is never an object, person, or place. What I have in mind when I begin is a collection of colors and a process for working with them."

For example, for the painting shown in this post — Burning Bright — I began by opening a jar of gesso and containers of acrylic paint in cadmium orange, indian yellow, prussian blue, and raw umber. I also laid out the tools I expected to use; a bowl of water, a two-inch brush, and a palette knife. Then I went to work, applying paint to canvas with the brush, moving it, blending it, and scraping it with the palette knife. I tried to do this in an intuitive, spontaneous way. Sometimes I repeat over and over, “Be present. Let go. Disappear.”

For this kind of painting, a purely abstract work, it is imperative that I have no subject in mind — no reality at all. When I began painting in this way, reality would occasionally intrude in the process. I recall one painting in particular when that happened. The painting began looking like surf breaking over rocks. Without thinking about it too very much, I began trying to make it look even more like surf breaking over rocks. The result was a terrible painting. Reality intruded and I lost my way, lost the intuitive, spontaneous sense that I now work to cultivate. I began trying to make a “picture” rather than an abstract painting.

Viewers often want to “see” something — some hint of reality — in abstract works, but in order to produce them I must avoid beginning with “something” in mind or letting myself get attached to “seeing” something as I work.
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P.S. The painting shown here – Burning Bright – is sold.