Simultaneous to beginning work on Und das Lied and Hollow Valley I began work on another group of paintings which as yet are not titles, nor am I sure if they are a group of individual paintings, a series or a single work. I am certain they are nearing 'completion' and have decided to post a gallery of their development to date. All the photographs are taken in natural light in the greenhouse or under fluorescent tube lighting in the basement studios, thus the colors do fluctuate and are never 'true'.
The idea I began with is similar to Und das Lied in that I decided to work with a surface that had a (painted?) history upon which to create new work.
In my studio I often use tissue paper, drafting paper, and drawings of my own or my kids, or scraps of paper to remove paint from surfaces I am working on as a means of 'thinning' and 'smoothing' the layer and the mark. But I rarely throw these blotting sheets away. Sometimes I used them to create new works on paper, other times they just trash up the studio. When I need to wrap a present they often make great gift paper! Last January I had many sheets of these papers lying about so I cut them up into 2 inch squares and threw them into a shopping bag. I had spent the fall working on painting on paper and then mounting the paintings to birch wood panels; I still had a few panels in the studio and paper. So I created collages on the paper using the 2 inch squares and lots of acrylic medium and eventually adhered the collages to the panels with the intention to create a single multi-panel painting of an incredibly minimalist nature. But I wasn't happy with it. So I hung the panels on the wall of the greenhouse and worked on them in oils, playing with mediums, textures, shapes and color throughout the summer and fall. In recent weeks I found that they have morphed into studies of form in blacks and whites. All panels are 11 inches x 14 inches; three panels have a depth of 7/8 inch and two panels are 1 1/2 inch deep.