#5. STRATEGIC/CONSCIOUS PAINTING (Reflection While Painting “Buon Appetito!”)
Painting: Chocolate Truffles
Reflection: STRATEGIC/CONSCIOUS PAINTING
My paintings aren’t slapdash. That is they’re not the type of spontaneous "process pieces" that are dabbed down without thinking. On the contrary. Surprisingly, thinking is a big part of what I do, as are feeling and intuiting. Some painters, certain realists for example, might calculate and measure where each element goes and exactly how. That’s not my way. I do plan a lot—spend hours on set-up and composition, but still like to leave significant detailing to chance. For instance, I won’t force a mood or color palette that’s not within my capabilities of the moment. I also like to guesstimate—even embellish aspects that cry out to me for extra attention. Consequently, my portraits have caricature-like tendencies and my still-lives are more whimsical than realist. Then there’s my abstracts, a melange of freedom, control, and spontaneity—more representational than abstract and more abstract than representational. We see and do what we need to at the time (usually without knowing it)—artist and viewer, alike.
