9/30/26

I have always started paintings with lines. These lines are rhythmic, spontaneous, and exploratory. They feel out the space of the canvas as though finding the edges of forms in a dynamic landscape. Gestural hints of nature, such as branches, don’t become things; rather, they bend back into boundless, undefined space, remaining foremost a record of the fundamental act of drawing. Opening and closing, rising and falling, my lines evoke the passage of light in their shifting hues and tones.

As I proceed from an initial skeletal arrangement, often in one color, some sections get wiped out. I change speed from flowing lines that easily traverse the canvas to slow, careful meanderings that build onto the existing structure. Along with rhythm, gravity guides my movements. The brush settles with pressure on a point then lifts, arcs, and falls until finding another point of pressure. A new color brings a new set of movements, which responds in counterpoint to the movements of a previous color.

The empty space the lines weave through is a field of light and air. This field is materially present as lines emerge from and disappear into it. Asserting itself with impossible force, I feel it in my gut. Responding to what emerges on the canvas, I have found that the act of painting helps me to understand the Heart Sutra’s teaching: “Form is no other than emptiness, and emptiness no other than form.”

My work has evolved in various directions over the years. Sometimes broad swaths of color have come to the fore; other times, organic shapes have emerged from my starting lines. Whichever direction I explore, I always have faith in those opening touches. At times, such as now, I have asked, “Can a finished painting remain in that first stage, where lines predominate, instead of shifting gears to other stages?” This approach puts the emphasis on drawing, and indeed, my recent paintings bear more resemblance to some of my work on paper than past paintings. Categories aside, my goal is to reach points of completion without straying from the open and intuitive spirit with which my paintings begin.