People often ask, “What are you thinking when you paint?” A valid question from an analytical point of view, but very difficult to answer from an intuitive perspective. I don’t plan each stroke ahead of time, but I spend a lot of time looking for ways to balance a painting and finding new color combinations. When I actually load my paintbrush and commit it to the canvas, another type of awareness takes over. I call it desire: I want this color and I want to move the brush in this direction. Sometimes my brush or charcoal piece wiggles out of my control and creates a shape that I was not intending at all, but when smoothed out, looks great. I am focused on the small microcosm of the shape when I paint, considering the rest of the piece only in relation to color harmonies and balance, not image construction. If an idea for an image does take over, as in Autumn Oak, I do direct the color choices to conform to the main idea, but each individual shape still commands its own attention. In that way I create a tree trunk that can transform into a rabbit’s head with a shift of attention. The rabbit I see is large and mostly brown with a green tipped muzzle, green inner ear and copper ringed eye. It’s neck starts centered at the bottom, looking right. I see many other forest animals in this painting.
