Studies and Stages for Slow Movement

The studies are 15 1/2" square, oil on paper, completed 2008. First creating the small study makes the problem tangible and helps me know whether I want to refine or reject a composition.

The images of stages reflect a small part of my process. It is a random series of baby steps towards creating the whole. I have no recipe. Sometimes I paint purposefully and sometimes aimlessly. It always involves a struggle at some point, and pushing through the humbling moments where I crash up against my limitations. My method is only systematic insofar as I do not stop until I'm mostly satisfied with the entire piece. Usually it takes me a month to complete one 40" square painting. Each painting has many oily layers and seems to need 40-50 hours.

For me, painting is the epitome of life. Working slowly is in direct contrast to the frenetic pace I was keeping for the past twenty years nearly to the day. This project is a kind of a personal arrival; it heightens my awareness to my own patience (something I felt I could never afford) and allows for the process and the product to be equally satisfying.

Back to Slow Movement