Abstract Black and White Series

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The black and white series stemmed from my love of black and white photography. Even though the paintings are expressionistic, they have minimal color.

These abstract paintings use very thick oil paint mixed with an encaustic wax medium. Colors are applied by the artist with brushes, palette knives and hands. The paint is often thrown at the canvas. The use of turpentine sprayed from a bottle blends the paint wildly and with great force around the canvas. It is scraped, wiped off with rags and reapplied repeatedly, building layers and adding needed smudges. Sometimes a dash of yellow ochre or burnt sienna is included to accentuate different sections of the work. The high energy with which these works were made pushes the boundaries of two-dimensional space and seems to rise off the canvas to meet the viewer. This series of abstract black and white paintings was started in 2003 and continues today.