The mixed media painting, which I titled ‘Ego’ is a bit of a transition and a departure from previous work. Much of my earlier work, (which is still for sale and available to view on http://www.etsy.com/shop/skgart?ref=pr_shop_more) captured what I visually perceived as external beauty.

My work focused on faces and portraits and figures and objects. The point of view was very much of objectification of all subjects. My eyes and heart sought to capture the outside, but with my impression and my feeling. After more than a decade worth of work, I think I’ve arrived at something that captures the same in a directly oppositional way.

My subject will always be human in orientation, the focus now extends beyond observation and has moved to interpretation. It pulls back from the objectification and moves the lens inward to the essence of feeling what we see and seeing what we feel.

I have been thinking about getting started on this new series of work, but it has taken time and effort to gain the courage to begin the execution. Just in the last two days, I’ve spent several hours gaining access to and gather materials for the work to begin. I’ve had sketches of the ideas for months, but as I pulled out the paint I got in the way of myself.

 Wisely, I abandoned the mess and stepped back from what was blocking me from progressing forward. I started straight in and as usual there was a sense of urgency to the work. I primarily use acrylic paint due to its quick drying nature and with modeling paste and mediums I have begun mastering texture and layering. Today, the air was so thick with moisture, I had to resort to using my hair dryer in between layers.

The bottom of the painting is layered in modeling paste, paint, and canary paper. It was a gentle and tedious task building this edge up and applying layer without smoothing the texture. The result is quite striking in the flesh.

The final product came fairly quickly and I had no hesitation in ending this process. There are many deep layers and a ghost layer with a human figure in it as a recollection and homage to my earlier work. I suspect that the human form is fading into this piece and won’t be seen again for some time.