studio view
This is a shot of paintings in progress in my studio this week...my colors are brightening and lightening. I've been drawn towards light greens and blues and light reds, sometimes even pink. No doubt I'm responding to the dragging on of winter, though my color choices are not so conscious.

Instead I would say that color is one of my most intuitive choices in the studio--the other is my use of lines, scratches and other gestural marks. Odd to realize that lately I've been pushing both of these elements into new directions with a degree of intent and awareness that seems new. I want more varied color, and more flat-out wild and uninhibited scratching and drawing on the surfaces of my work, and it seems that simply by wanting these things they are starting to happen.

Composition and format, on the other hand, tend to be for me the result of conscious questions about what will provide balance, and where visual weight or emphasis is needed. Even though my compositions evolve with the painting (they are not pre-planned) in their final state they are more like puzzles solved than spontaneous magic. Yet, in the same way I've been pushing color and mark-making in a more conscious direction, I have been looking for more spontaneity in my compositions. Lately I've been dividing the picture plane in some looser and fuzzier ways, making visual breaks where they seem to fit, rather than always using separate panels to provide a contrasting grid.

I love the way that the creative process has an integrity and purpose that provide a true course, even as things become complex and even contradictory. Trusting in this process allows the dance between intuition/spontaneity and critical thinking to go on...becoming always more intricate and intriguing.  ¶ 8:35 AM