The return of passion…

To my surprise, I had a magic painting yesterday! Strata was a planned painting, inspired after my experimentation on Composition 6 and Dapple earlier this year. Both of those paintings were interesting learning experiences for me, but they were by no means “magic”. Yet I knew there was something in both of those pieces that I wanted to pursue. Composition 6 was completely “evolutionary” in nature, meaning that I had no idea what was going to happen when I approached the blank paper, not even an idea of color. One thing just lead to another, and finally I had something that I liked. Dapple was a take-off from the former as I tried to recapture some of the amazing mistakes that had happened in the first piece. I even used the same color palette. From there I did a few layouts in Adobe Illustrator, and that is when I got the idea for Strata. So when I started this piece late Saturday evening, I had had a definite idea of where it was going. Even so, starting with a firm idea in my head does not insure I will have a successful painting. But from the minute I laid in the initial background glazes, I had the excitement that has eluded me for (seemingly) months. I couldn’t seem to leave the painting alone. I took several breaks throughout the day to run errands, and yet I wanted to get back to work on it. I even wired it last night at 10:00pm and hung it up!

Strata, 2008, 24" x 24", acrylic on canvas


Inspirations: Composition 6 and Dapple


The layout for Strata (Adobe Illustrator)