The genesis for this work was an exhibit of early modern paintings by artists working in France from around 1900-1910. I saw these paintings by Derain, Vuillard, Braque, Dufy, Mattise, Vlaminck, Bonnard, and Kandinsky in a new way, with eyes tempered by experience. For many years I investigated a wide range of methods and styles, feeling more drawn to those which focus on pure qualities of paint and color. Seeing these Fauve paintings reinforced what had already begun to form in my own work. Examining these canvases closely, I perceived certain ineffable qualities, the pigment purity, the surface tone showing between paint strokes, how the paint was grabbed by the tooth of the surface in a way that enhanced the gestural effect of the strokes, and a paint viscosity balancing stiffness and juiciness.

Determinated to acheive these qualities for myself, I experimented with different surfaces, as well as different brands of paints, mediums and brushes. The subtle qualities I admired continued to elude me, until I realized that these painters worked before the advent of contemporary materials like gesso and premixed mediums. So, instead of gesso, I tried using what they used, rabbit skin glue, to size and prime the canvas. Instead of brand formulas, I mixed my own medium. I used non-synthetic brushes and found stiffer paints, learning how to control viscosity through additives and set-up time. I learned how to use the warm color of the rabbit skin glue as a color tone in the painting. I discovered from books on traditional materials, that powdered pigment could be added to the hot, liquid rabbit skin glue, tinting the primed surface before any paint is applied. These methods worked like magic to my eyes, so I began incorporating them into my own personal style.

In this work there is a tension between spatial illusion and pictorial surface. I do utilize spacial illusion in terms of depth of field, though many of the origional Fauve painters downplayed this effect. I like the way paintings can appear as portals to an actual space, a space that also invites entry by virtue of the imagery. However, like most Fauve painters, I don't concentrate on spatial illusion in terms of the three dimensionality of objects. The primacy of form is overuled by the urge to liberate color and brushwork. It is the loose, gestural brushstrokes and pure vibrant colors that draw attention to the pictorial surface, making the actual physicality of the paint on canvas a subject matter in itself.