Bloom Paintings, 2001 - 2023
The Blooms are my oldest series, developed just before the Aerial Landscapes. After undergrad, my paintings were raw and restless—abstract to the point of chaos. Things changed in 2000, when I attended a “silent” residency in Temecula, California. There were five of us in separate cabins, encouraged to keep to ourselves and work quietly. My cabin looked out on its own stretch of landscape, and over two months I had long, uninterrupted time to think and draw.
It was at this residency that I turned to automatic drawing, letting the pencil move across the page before thought could intervene. The process became a way of listening—forms emerged through repetition and rhythm rather than deliberate design. Curves unfolded, lines looped and expanded, shapes gathered into clusters that suggested growth and energy. At first they weren’t flowers in a literal sense, (not through drawing but became so with color) and yet they carried something of that unfolding. I also often use a horizon line to suggest a place/environment. Over time these drawings grew into what became The Blooms—a series rooted in observation and process, but transformed into abstract forms that felt alive in their own right. In these paintings, I employ techniques used in post-painterly abstraction and Hard-Edge painting, an approach characterized by smooth surface planes and fullness of color. In a formal sense, these paintings are related to cubism with their interlocking planes and multiple viewpoints. Compositionally, I seek to create an optical undulation or flutter by comparing and contrasting hue, value, and tone.
I love these paintings and I keep returning to this work, because of interest or commission requests and I am happy to oblige. I am intrigued with how my experience and process changes over time.
