I believe this ink painting evokes something about the way of things in this world. On the one hand, there are recognizable geometric shapes, lines, and arcs. On the other hand, those elements run into each other, fade in some places, and are partly washed away by drips and runs. Recognizable forms are eroded. Different people will, of course, interpret this piece differently and some may find no meaning in it at all. My own feeling is that it conveys imperfection, change, and decay, but taken together there is some balance and all of these elements together can be quite dramatic.
I think a lot of abstract art has a strong intuitive component to it. One may start out with an idea, but the interaction of media and paper tends to lead in unanticipated directions. In this case, the application of the first stroke–the wide rectangular shape at the upper left–defines the space and limits the options for the rest of the composition.
This piece was created with ink applied with a thin piece of wood over ink stained water swirls.
After laying down some obtuse white lines with strips of tape to keep out paint and ink, I started adding acrylic washes of various colors. By using relatively dilute paint, I allowed colors to blend in with each other in some places. As in many abstract paintings, this one was started with a basic idea but then took on a life of its own as I tried to let my intuition guide me. I like to let this happen, while also keeping basic compositional principles such as spacing, points of focus, and value contrasts in mind.
Often I create a background and then layer the ink strokes on top, but in this case the process was reversed. I was only working on ink strokes, thinking that they would just be black on white, but on examining this one, thought it might look good combined with a different color. So the red was layered around and, in some places, over the black ink. I like the effect because it suggests that the ink stroke is emerging from the swirling and somewhat chaotic red.
Layered acrylic washes and ink on watercolor paper. For this piece, I first put down some light acrylic washes and arcs using acrylic ink. On top of these, I then layered more opaque colors and a few splatters.
This digital painting uses urban Middle East motifs. I lived in Cairo, Egypt for a couple of years and was struck by the magnificent architecture that graced the older areas of the city. This is something of an homage to those beautiful forms.
This is a layered image, with diluted acrylic washes at the lowest level, then some blue and red strokes, followed by the black, which was much thicker than the other pigments. This piece borrows from the evocative shapes of Asian ink traditions, but is not a Japanese or Chinese character.
In this work, I was focused on creating a sense of colors merging into and flowing around each other. I think the net result also evokes a tangle of nerve fibers.
This painting was created fairly quickly, but in layers: blue, orange, and black in that order. The blue is mostly covered up, but it comes through in some places. I did this very spontaneously, while at the same time I tried to pay attention to the overall composition and the mix of colors. I used acrylic paint and diluted it so that it would splatter and run.
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Kind of a dark title, but that is how this piece came out.
I created it by first putting down light acrylic colors that I then stroked with a sharpened piece of bamboo. Once it was mostly dried, I applied ink splatters and water, allowing it to run and blend more or less on its own.
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