Almost every summer since I was 16 I have worked at a summer camp on a lake in the Adirondacks. It is that time of year again & to camp I will go. Some would say I should never take a day away from the studio, but I say it is crucial to my process to go & observe the world for a month without thinking about its translation to the page. It brings me back to my work refreshed & with new eyes. So with that dear friends I will say TTFN, happy Friday & I'll see y'all in July. 

Sometimes the number of colors I have at my disposal can pull the focus away from what matters in a painting. In my instance the "little infinities". Yesterday this painting was completed using only Winsor & Newton Indigo along with some Morton's Kosher Salt. I wasn't even sure I should add the salt. Sometimes you have to only work with one color so you can see the forms of the painting with greater clarity & less distraction. If you want to see this painting without salt I have a detail of it up over on my Instagram. You can decide for yourself if it should have salt or not? Happy Thursday Y'all! 

"You gave me a forever within the numbered days." -John Green 
Yesterday I painted this painting & watched this movie. The quote above struck me as particularly poignant in a series of excellent takeaways from the movie. You should take a box of tissues with you to the movie, but it is worth seeing. It will make you think, if you are open to metaphor & big questions that have no answers. 
As it relates to my work: I try to paint in such a way that little universes/infinites are contained within the page. To bring attention to the little details, the overlooked moments, because if attention is paid to those things than time infinitely expands. Happy Wednesday Y'all! 

I have been adding the Indanthrene Blue to this latest batch of blue paintings & am intrigued by the temperature coolness they add. Perhaps it is because it already gets into the 90's most afternoons here. The other feature I really enjoy in the Indanthrene is the paints ability to be completely consumed by the salt, returning the paper to an almost white state again (example in upper left of this painting). This trait is unusual & I have yet to find another color that is as thoroughly consumed by the salt. Every day in the studio brings something you, I just have to show up & observe. Happy Tuesday Y'all! 

Occasionally I want to crop one of these paintings, because I feel that one section is more successful than another. And while it might be more alluring & interesting there is always something that stops me from cropping the image. Perhaps it is because there is something more subtle, but still informative in the "boring" section. Things are still transpiring to be captivating & I must be patient with those quieter sections of the painting. I do the cropping digitally, but it would be easy, perhaps easier to do it with the tangible object too, just a tear of the paper. While the overall image might not receive that adulation of others, & some might straight up call it a flop, "patient looking is rewarded."*    Happy Monday Y'all!
*A college professor, Bruce Herman, wrote this in the gallery book for my senior thesis & the phrase stuck in my head.
** These thoughts are directly influenced by things I saw transpire over the weekend i.e. be kind to your fellow travellers. 

You could not step in the same river twice. -Heraclitus  Happy Friday Y'all! 

These appeal to me more in their solitude than in the repetition of form, at least as stand alone paintings. Staying away from stripes for this week has been interesting, but I am not yet willing/able to set my course away from them so this is likely to be the last moon for awhile. It is interesting how what can feel liberating in the beginning (painting circles) can still feel so other in the end even after hours of practice. Happy Thursday Y'all!  

In the painting below you see how they got the name Domino Moons. Your eye bounces back and forth between the two moons, but gives you the opportunity to notice the differences. I read recently that the way to spot differences in those "Find the Objects" comparative pictures is to cross your eyes. It doesn't work as thoroughly with this as they are not meant to be identical sides, but now you know how to find the hidden objects. Happy Wednesday Y'all! 

Progress/Process continues on the Domino Moons. I am intrigued by the reactiveness of the Mars Black. I wish that in the color profiles Winsor & Newton and Dr. Ph. Martin provide they would give insight into how fast certain colors move. Do I really wish that? Perhaps not, because that is a huge part of the investigative painting that I do everyday & if I knew how fast the paint would be drawn to salt or it speed in spreading across a wet paper then I would miss the excitement & joy of discovery. In the meantime I will construct a "speed chart" in my head & perhaps some day on paper. Happy Tuesday Y'all! 

The spheres are in orbit. This weekend I experimented with adding backgrounds & allowing each glob to exist as a singular entity. I also mixed Mars Black with Payne's Grey?! I am in a bit of shock over this choice as I often think that Payne's cannot be improved on, but this series seems to call for it. I find it interesting how much more the Mars Black reacts with the salt. It simply gravitates towards it creating a much more visible/less subtle interaction. Who knows what will happen next with these moons? I don't, but I am enjoying the process. Happy Monday Y'all!