This new series I’m working on started with Wild Abandon, and from there came Reckless Endangerment. I’ve got three new works in progress and I’m slowly and deliberately building layers of color. I started by distressing the edges of loose canvas with scissors and a seam ripper, creating fringe and leaving lots of loose, dangling threads-- then I started throwing paint!

Purvis Young's work has been a great source of inspiration for me lately, as I find his works on fabric fascinating with their bold, raw edges. For artists, contemporary art is all about questioning both our subjects and our materials-- I paint on canvas, but does it have to be stretched and neat to be beautiful or thought provoking?

I've been looking at some pieces coated in clear resin recently, and was really surprised by the way it made colors pop. That convinced me-- it was time to start mixing and pouring my own! 

I’ve discovered over time that I enjoy working with resin (with the windows open!), and have been very pleased with the results! When I tinted it in various shades before pouring it down sections of the canvas. The glossy finish when everything dried was exactly what those pieces needed, the raw edges of the canvas catching small, colorful, crystalline drips that made the pieces look as if they were perpetually wet.

I’m someone who really appreciates order, logic and symmetry. There are times when the world feels out of control and I end up back at my easel, using color, shapes and lines to create structure where none exists. Alcohol markers are a great tool when I dive headfirst into geometric pieces. 

After working with paint so often, I have begun to appreciate the very strong contrast between the two mediums-- where paint has almost a mind of its own, markers (particularly alcohol markers!) are excellent teammates that are easy to work with.

Let’s go fly a kite, up to the highest height! I was practicing working on shapes one day when a badly-drawn diamond made me think of a kite in the air. Mary Poppins popped into my head. That fleeting thought led me to Haulover Park-- just north of where I live in Bal Harbour, Florida-- where kites are a frequent sight around the marina. I took photos and went back to the studio to sort out what story these kites were telling me. 

I thought of Mary Poppins, who brought magic to even the most ordinary things. With that in mind, I go to work creating digital kites, twisting shapes and streaming tails made from dots and colorful lines. I built the piece out with paint and alcohol markers, creating contrast and movements as the kites sailed over the ocean into the sky. For me, the magic is in the creation-- it's the realization that a botched shape can morph into a visual story, that, for me, memorialized a happy thought and a favorite childhood memory.