My paintings are a combination of non-objective abstractions and recognizable image remnants.
The encaustic paintings are painted on birch panels. Prior to starting work on the larger panels, I work on many panels and sheets of papers to produce small paintings that can be incorporated into painting compositions. The size range of the smaller panels and works on paper is 8 by 10 to 23 by 22.5 inches. I also use these painted sheets of paper and wood as color and image layers in the painting process with the encaustic medium.
Additionally, other processes are specific to encaustic painting: I build up the sides of the small panels and pour hot wax, while imbedding crayons, candles, and other color layers.
I refer to my pen and ink drawings to glean fragments from those images to incorporate into the paintings. I do this by using digital files of the drawings, tile the images through Photoshop, and print the selected tiles. I make acrylic emulsions from the tiled fragments of drawings to incorporate them into various compositions in the paintings.
In all of my work I am immersed in searching for hidden visual cues, always looking to combine refined lyricism with funkiness, and to emphasize paintings as objects that have both physical depth of colors, and surfaces.
The Urban Fragments painting series examines change and flux when urban environments experience loss and rebirth. Many of the paintings are remembrances, my meditations of Detroit, and any city in this country. Some images invoke billboard image remnants, architecture, and the way natural forces impose upon change and neglect. The encaustic medium helps to describe passages of time and layers of visual history. Paint layers, objects, and drawing remnants are derived intuitively.
I want the paintings to convey solid forms and shapes that are diaphanous and luminous. This series promotes colors that are pared down to vibrant essentials. While some colors are mixed and layered, others are blunt and vivid.