that something new has happened, it has been an exciting experience.

After having a period of working that felt both productive and regressive I sought out constructive criticism on a public forum…the web community of Reddit to be exact. 

Around the same time I was notified of some paintings that were supposed to be shown in another city, and instead were deemed “unfinished” by the authorities involved. I respect those opinions and wanted to try and figure out what else people didn’t like. At the end of the week I got a rejection letter for a local juried show that I wanted to be a part of very badly. I try to not be excited about anything that I apply for because of so many rejection letters in a row, for years. The only thing that is really disparaging is having to pay application fees of $35 or more for a few digital images. That kind of money should elicit something more than just a denial. A sentence or two of constructive criticism would be nice, but it is all a racket I think, and perhaps my tune will change at some point.

After being so contemplative and seeking personal answers, my studio time revealed an insight in the idea of a paint batch test card. I’ve only begun this new investigation and my visualizations of future projects makes me look forward to keeping at the process. I will be able to vocalize and describe this new series in more detail at some point, but it is so new to me right now that I’d rather let the pieces speak for themselves. I have a good painter friend from college named Haley Cavotta who recently gave her impressions of my new paintings and it seemed to me as most poignant, appreciated, and accurate: “…You have really created these interesting energy fields within the staccato of pattern. How they merge with each other in transition does some great things with dimensionality…”.

This series will contain works on canvas, panel, and paper. I look forward to what creative adventures will unfold in the days to come.

have had some time in the studio this month. My friend Mike Petro, from the undergraduate days at CCAD, sent me four paired panels to experiment with.

   Both Mike and I share a love of the landscape and have utilized that visual connection since our studio time in college.  He was gracious to start this collaboration by making some interpretations of the Olympic Range in watercolor followed by an acrylic sealer. I began the project by flipping each panel 90 degrees to enhance the vertical qualities of his horizon lines. After some initial mark making I was tempted to go for some collaging of scraps laying around my work area. This process allowed me to start breaking up the space with new planar elements. Towards the end of my work time I chose to re-apply some gold and silver leaf in key areas, in an attempt to bring back that element which Mike included from the start of these pieces.

   I enjoy collaboration very much and this is the first grouping that Mike and I have worked on. We’ll see what comes next, Thanks Mike!

for another blog post. 

It is now the beginning of February and my timeline for applying to a few juried competitions is drawing near. Recently I’ve begun making more drawings which support my sketchbook work and paintings. I look forward to chipping away at this manifesting vision of abstract landscapes which contain neither imagery nor lettering, in favor of attempts at translating an atmosphere which is in flux and transition. I can’t say for sure right now how this will pan out but the paintings might be getting more crisp and graphic as a reflection of the drawings…in contrast to the previous NO. series which have quite a lot of thin overpainting and a misty colorized dynamic. 

As I continue to explore why my marks are expressed in the way that they are it is becoming clear that these angles are in relation to both light/ shadows and earthly terrain/ flora. Even though my work has gone down in scale due to necessity I feel that the vertical frame of reference is my ally in attempts to create dynamic compositions. Some day it will be a kick to take this approach back up to a larger scale and see where it goes.