The Tension Between Reality and the Unknown

This painting was created in 2002. I was starting to experiment with mixed media on canvas as I expanded my palette from using only artist’s oil paint. I have continued my mixed media passion to this day. It comes from the do-it-yourself, punk rock, ad hoc spirit of the late 1970s, which was, and still is, in many ways, a symbolic sacrifice of ideal, traditional visions of perfection in order to get out of one’s own way for the purpose of creating in the moment rather than waiting for the perfect moment. 

A passion for the line in art is expressed here. I was experimenting with variations in stylized lines. There is something technological and biological about it. Lines, as seen in nature, are really just surfaces of objects as seen level with the surface, rather than perpendicular to the surface. 

The leaves of the plant I represented in this painting are called mallow, which is a common garden weed found in the midwest. I like their kidney shape. I also like the natural corrugation that fans out from the center of the leaves which creates a kind of rooftop effect for lighted and shaded surfaces on the leaves.

I find one of the most neutral colors one can use for a background to be raw umber mixed with some titanium white. It’s like the middle grey used in traditional photography which reflects about 18% of light that falls on it. The rest of the surface has a gentle absorbing sense about it, including the green colors in the foreground. The nascent forming qualities of the background give a platform on which lines can be defined.