working on new paintings in a series i think will be called "threshold" or "thresholds".
"what is it?" is a question i ask myself often while painting these canvases, also "what am i doing?"
.....i suppose the point is that i've been determined lately to paint very instinctually.... just paint, move the paint around as it feels right to.....is it simple expressionism?
maybe. my ideas about what i am doing are simple, basic palettes, mostly monochromatic, white is very important because the color white is, in my mind's eye, transcendent, and calming. i am using the restricted palette because i am on a color diet, i do love color so, but i've wanted to focus on the image more, as nebulous as it may be, and keeping a simple palette lets me keep the focus on the shapes, lines, light and shadow. there is a timeless quality to monochromatic schemes like sepia tone photos, toile fabric, or old ink drawings, i love the baroque ink drawings of Fragonard, and do feel an affinity to them when i paint these.
i started the series with the studies on paper, which are shown under the "flight" gallery here on the website. as i painted them, they looked to me like there was something unknowable pushing towards the surface of what looked like water. i am following that idea now with the larger paintings, an image that is just perceptible as being "something" but ultimately unknowable, teetering on the threshold of existence.
