Ribbons

For the Ribbons series of paintings, I want to push past the typical end point of my process and make that the new beginning point. I pour paint onto a flat, smooth surface in individual 1/4" strips with approximately equal lengths, using a continuous flow of different color paint to create a swirling gradient from one line of paint to the next, then let it dry. After that, I peel off the dried paint strips one at a time by hand, before they adhere to the smooth surface. I usually consider my paintings finished once the paint dries, however, for these paintings I feel the actual painting process starts in the next step.

I then arrange the ribbons of paint onto a canvas. I begin by placing the strips in the order in which they were created, but partly overlapping each other. I attempt to place them as evenly as possible, but also allow the inconsistencies and variations in the dried paint ribbons to guide the process. The overlapping creates texture, and the variation in the line and color produce an optical effect, both of which I welcome. The end result is a landscape of softly shifting colors.

Overall, these paintings reveal to me that even a slight variation in the order of a process can create new pictorial complexity.