I re-photographed these paintings today, and placed them online at an art website in hopes of a sale. They are from the Zen Series.

The Zen Series is inspired by the painting techniques of zen masters and oriental calligraphers, who spend hours grinding ink and adding just the right amount of water to attain the desired consistency. They then spread the ink on rice paper with several strokes of the brush, in the same manner that I am applying paint on canvas.

My process is to create highly-textured backgrounds using shades of off-whites. I then mix paint with gels and mediums for the foreground, spend a few minutes in silence and attunement, and have but one go at each piece.

They are powerful and authentic recordings of a moment in time and space — no additions, changes, erasures, amendments.

And what I am discovering is that the skeletal, bare bones structure of these works is simply mirroring my inner process — reducing events and experiences to essentials, getting rid of what is outworn and no longer useful on the journey.