for a while now ive been struggling with the idea of translating intuitive and improvised drawings into painting. a kind of zen study, turning off the analytical part of my mind and allowing the composition to build itself. the drawings resulted in flowing line work that was somewhere between organic and geological formations that had a sense of form and space about them. what i liked about them was that it was up to the viewer to decide what was form or void. it could be looked at different ways depending on what shapes you see as “in front” or “behind”. it was this idea that struck a chord with me, because in reality there is no difference between form and void. at a fundamental level, empty space and solid objects are made of the same material. reality, like a scene in a painting is an illusion, what is perceived as depth and form and space is all the same pigment rearranged. process wise, the paintings became a fusion of improvisation and intent. the first phase was painted with quick abstract expressionist marks, allowing the paint to drip and smear and splatter as it pleased. the second phase is where i pulled detail out of the randomness, allowing happenstance to be the foundation on which detail was built; plume like shapes of thin washes of paint became clouds, jagged brush marks became mountains. the result is a kind of landscape that appears to be in a perpetual moment of creation and destruction, the material of the scene cascading into the material of the thing itself. here are a few of my favorites so far.