These two paintings were made within a similar time frame, so I wanted to write about them together because I consider them to be companion pieces. 

I started out with a visual concept of an oval sitting diagonally in the rectangular plane as a guide to how the eye would be directed. It may stop along the way, or may flow all the way around in one swoop. Sometimes it moves back in space, drawing you in, and sometimes it is very flat and 2D. I just love this interplay of form and what it translates to as a concept. 

The top painting is called “Infrastation” and it is a combination of the words infrastructure and station. It is meant to be the internal workings of the machine that is the web of ideas that circulate.  

Here is the artist statement that accompanies it:

“The imprint of your mind is on mine.

I can see the trail you left.

It is part of the trail that has been building for a lifetime.

My lifetime.

My signature is there just like yours, but it is a boat with no captain.

Letting itself capsize in the night,

letting itself dry out for days.”

Different than memories, impressions contain all of the elements of exchanges between people. Like perfume lingering in a home the day after a person leaves. You never really know how these ideas and impressions affect you on a day to day basis. You never can know, because your mind is only so wide. It is made to help navigate your life, not made to understand all life! 

Here are 4 studio snapshots of this painting as I tried out some different ideas, some of them kept through til the end, some of them got covered:

And the final version for comparison:

The second painting is called “Sentences of Rounded Time” Here's the artist statement that accompanies it:

"If we talk long enough we talk in circles.

The sentences resurface and land on someone else's ears.

We don't notice until after we hear it out loud.

I've been told this story before.

It is comforting and since I've told it before

I am sure to recognize it.

Doesn't it matter more what we do?…More than how we rationalize it all?”

In many ways this is about the life cycle of ideas, and how they come back around to us. This is what it would look like if we could see it. Of course, everyone’s view would be different depending on where they are standing. 

Here are 4 studio snapshots of this painting as well.

And the final version for comparison:

The process of discovering how to illustrate ideas that are slippery and difficult to explain requires a lot of patience. I remember several times while painting these, I would just look at them and sit and wonder where to go next. I would wait patiently until I was certain what the next step was. In that time, I remember pulling my intention back to what I was trying to communicate without words. When I made my next move, I did it with certainty and I think it shows in the end result.

I am not sure what anyone gets out of time spent pondering these paintings, but as I sit with these two paintings in my view, I am reminded of all of these elusive sentiments that I poured into them. They are varnished glossy and painted on wood panel, so their presence has a longevity to it. A feeling like they’ve always been in existence.