I paint to learn. My process hinges on exploration and the resulting development of my skills and understanding of materials.
In my current work, I start by sketching with graphite or ink on big pads of newsprint, thinking largely about a certain feeling or inclination that has been brewing inside me. I allow my lines to guide me, not thinking about the aesthetics of their placement. After several iterations, I move to canvas and begin by echoing the most pleasing aspects of the preliminary sketches, with the aim to find early balance and harmony.
I usually work in a single session if time allows because paint behaves differently on the first day than any other day, and I prefer those first results. So, I try to work quickly, which also frees me from thinking too much about what I will do next.
I consider the areas where lines intersect and what negative or positive interplays these could create. I like to establish a visual foundation of rhythm, push, and pull. Then I can bring in different colors of varying viscosity, from thick impasto to highly fluid, transparent, and dripping. I like to scrub, stroke, smooth out the paint, and draw with it. I like the undrawn line that a screwdriver or bamboo skewer make. The reductive process of Sgraffito brings a patterned, decorative, and gendered sensibility to my compositions.
Ultimately each work is a physical record of my experimentation—a visual documentation of the choices and risks that lead from one discovery to the next decision as I learn from one painting to the next.
