My Alchemy

Painting is a moving balance between controlling the painting and allowing it to lead the way. In the beginning, I make all of the decisions. But as the painting wakes up and begins to assert itself, I try to allow it to lead the way. If I’m too controlling, the painting can choke. If I let go too soon or too often, it can falter. That moving balance is where the magic happens.

It’s a kind of alchemy that allows me to see again and again what can happen when I am mixed with paint. A fusion of spirit and materials that produces an object that can’t be separated out. At the heart of alchemy was the goal of finding a way to transform base metals into gold. Making art is kind of like that. In the crucible of making art, you’re also making yourself.

This is my alchemy, a way to find out what can happen when I mix my being with paint. It’s a way to make the paintings I need to see, the mirrors in which I can see myself.