It’s always hard to describe what I am trying to accomplish with my painting. The words I use sometimes feel vague and a bit clouded, words like feeling and rhythm and rightness. All describing a quality that can’t be quantified. The term “rightness” for me is just being able to look at something and visually weigh it, trying to see if there is an organic sense to it. Does it make sense? Does anything, a wrong or weak line or a flaw in the balance of the composition, betray the reality of the piece? By that I mean, does the piece create its own sense of believable reality? In my work there may be red trees, houses without doors or windows, unnaturally colored fields and strangely shaped outcroppings of terrain, and skies that may never be seen on this earth but to me, they translate as being completely natural and logical.
And I suppose that is what I’m trying to do- make a world that sometimes appears totally illogical and in chaos seem to make a bit of sense. To be in some form of harmony.
The piece shown here is And All Is Clear which is an 18″ by 18″ canvas. I think this is a piece that very much typifies the rightness and logic I was describing. This painting is carried by its simplicity and the harmony of its colors, giving it a real sense of peacefulness.
It also is part of my show at the Haen Gallery in Asheville, NC which opens next Saturday, November 22. If you’re in the area please stop in and say hello. I’ll be giving a short talk, which always has a Q&A session, just before the opening at 5 PM.
Redtree Times 
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