Under Construction

In this case, we have two panels and a theme of houses. The idea is to use each panel as a kind of sounding board for the other. We do something on one side and then jump to the other side to match it with a similar technique but using a different color. The two panels in effect grow up together. First one then the other, back and forth, always looking for a dynamic balance between the two of them. It is a training exercise, learning to balance with compliments. Eventually, the two panels get mounted onto a frame and even then the game can continue until the right proportions of warm and cool, dark and light, figure and ground, line and tone, smooth and rough, image and abstraction, large and small and near and far are achieved. In short, the painting needs to look like it dropped out of the sky in the same way that trees and rocks exist as if they have always been there, which they have.

 

The critical factor is time. It takes time to assimilate what is really going on here. It could even take years to bring a painting to fruition. And all the while you are working, you are learning about what works and what does not work. This is message and meditation together. It is a journey of putting down first one foot and then the other. Each step must be done with as much authority and conviction as you can muster. You are building relationships, first among the parts, and then with yourself and consequently with all the eyes that might see these paintings.

 

It is not just painting, it is a point of view. You are forming a philosophy, expressing concepts and showing attitude. So, what does it mean anyway? It means that you were there in body, mind and spirit every step of the way. One could say that you have become the painting and the painting has become you. In the end, the process is the product. You do not need a blueprint, but you are building a house.