Painting Journals

Click on images for selections from each journal

The Painting Journals began in the summer of 1992 with a few inkblots. It was the summer between the first and last year of graduate school, and I needed a free zone with no pre-conceived rules, a place to do anything, to experiment.

Working the journals quickly formed muscle memory, a short-cut into studio work. Outside responsibilities quickly fade as my eye, hand and brush are linked. My sense of touch becomes more alert, active and alive. 

I use water-based media in these journals, and within a few years, my work was based on water. The journals are non-linear. I turn the pages until I see something I need to do. When the page is too wet to work further, I set it aside, and work in the next journal. For me, the pages can record moments in time, yet they are made over long periods. None of the books are complete.

The pages often start by gluing in bits and pieces of life. They can end up becoming a record of people, memories, things that matter. Sometimes, the records are covered over by paint, and the initial impetus changes or disappears. The process transforms whatever goes into them into a visual experience. Over time, other bodies of work emerge from the books.