Synergy

Synergy is an epoch, intuitive painting.
Oil on canvas, 48 x 36 x 1.5 in

Part 1: Synergy was not planned. It just happened.
The underpainting for Synergy was a personal painting that I quietly titled Smoke and Ash (below). Meaning, it was never meant to be seen or exhibited, because it was too tender and a very personal painting. It is my memory of the Tubbs fire, standing out in the street with my neighbors in a fog of swirling smoke and ash that left my legs feeling weak. 

I created this painting a couple weeks after the fire and felt myself lost in the fog.

Part 2: The painting was stored in my shed until a year and a half later when I decided to create a painting in all red hues, an inspiration from a blog sent to me from Gamblin Artists Colors. Consciously, the painting of reds had nothing to do with fire, more a thing of passion, focused on spending time learning about interactions of Reds.

I worked horizontally and intuitively on the painting with an intent to paint the reds in a way that they would move spatially on the plane of the canvas. Although I had an intimate memory of painting the underpainting I didn't really think about the previous content of the smoke and ash at the time, but more that it was making a very interesting background in the artwork, and that I wanted to include it into the composition.

The Reds came began to describe a new strength, new curiosity and an unstoppable energy. I didn't do it, not out of consciousness, but out of my interaction to the paint.

Eventually I switched to working vertically, filling in shapes of various sizes and hues to create interest and space, sometimes regretting losing the under layer.

Epoch - Marking a place in time, a division of time. 
Synergy - Cooperative interaction.

Synergy is currently exhibiting at Fulton Crossing Gallery November 1 through December 29 and is available through the gallery.