On the Easel

WET Paintings

The name of these paintings implies many things, most obviously the theme of water in all of the paintings.  A less obvious implication is that all of these paintings are still wet, still dripping, because they are all brand-new.  All the paintings in the show have been conceived in the last four to five months; I have not painted on this scale and with this intensity in about 14 years.  I have been in a creative desert with my work, and this show has given me the time to soak in the creative process.  
 
Water and the ribbons of light in the paintings remind me of my childhood and how I would always have my eyes open under the water.  I love to swim under the water because it is peaceful, quiet, and, to me, beautiful.  I have always been fascinated with how objects look distorted under the water.  The light reflects and is also diffused in abstract ways.
 
 As a subject matter, water fascinates because it cleanses, relaxes, brings peace, and makes you weightless.   Water is a beautifully simplistic subject matter, but it implies so much of what is going on in my life as far as taking a symbolic cleansing soak, and letting the water wash over me as I let some things go.
 
 Water flows, water caresses. Water is not a solid wall; it will not stop you. However, water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing, in the end, can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Remember you are more than half water.  If you cannot go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does.
 
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