Exploring the Succulent Wilderness of a Contemporary Mind through Encounters with Material

First, I discuss my role as an artist as twofold: as an observer and a creator. I then examine how abstraction in painting offers me a way to create that is complementary to the way I wish to view the world. The process of my work is explored further to clarify certain subjective definitions important to my practice, such as my personal definition of the sublime. I begin with a discussion of how I approach the canvas including the first decisions made in a painting: decisions centered around the palette. I follow with a description of the middle of the process in which forms and surface textures begin to emerge while also examining the editing process of those forms and textures. In this way, criteria for what constructs a finished piece are clarified. I then turn to broader philosophical consequences of that process: namely, what it entails to approach painting from the role of a shamaness and with what reservations I attempt to enact this persona. Through this lens, I approach art historical contexts including my connection to Abstract Expressionists and also specific contemporary painters