My painting exploded in my studio. I knew it would happen at some point. The pieces were building each week. Bold, open, fresh. Each one with large shapes taking up lots of space. Filling the canvas with an overflow extending beyond the 3x3ft stretcher frame. The first piece had the almost clashing red-oxide and purple color palette with flower-like shapes. This gave way to the second painting with blue brushstrokes gushing like a twisted tantrum anchored by the eye of the storm on top. Painting three. “I don’t even know if this works as a painting,” I thought. “I don’t even care if this works as a painting.” And that was the truth. I loved it. Whatever this vibrant, awkward, happy creation was that miraculously spawned itself on the canvas. And then it happened in week four. My painting exploded.
It started out tight and that might have been the first sign. I painted some desert-like colors and shapes to cover the bright painting underneath which was a piece from ten years ago. Then, my body got restless. All of the sudden, I let loose with this dark purple automatic symbolic type image. It was like a seven second whirlwind of dripping paint and striking marks that left me with a painting full of discord. The colors clashed, the marks were wild, and the shapes created the overtone of a landscape—part-bird, part-mountain. Pure child’s play. An explosion of color and life. A celebration of the carefree, the loose and the casual. A delightful burst of joy. Truly, a mess.
That night, I tiptoed downstairs before bed to check on the painting. Did I like it? I had no idea. Once again, I didn’t care if this worked as a painting. And even if it didn’t meet any technical standards created by the gods of painting—the energy. I wanted that energy. I wanted to bottle it up and take it to the next painting. That energy was like a tug of magic drawing me in towards the canvas, keeping me alive, and allowing me to breathe. In front of me, I was witnessing the unraveling and culmination of this current set of paintings that like a rainbow supernova burst open into the world. And I did too.
I love the colors and values.