Process Study: Waterscape

1. Design the form

As with many of my paintings from the Perpetual Pursuit series, I began this panel by designing it virtually. I initially planned on hanging the piece fro the ceiling (as shown in the left image), but ultimately determined 1) this was too much of a direct reference to James Turrell's "Skyspace" series, and 2) that this posed an major lighting dilemma. I wanted the piece to be well-lit, an impossible task for a piece hung with its back literally to the light. I thought about displaying the piece on the floor, too, as it was intended to abstractly emulate water.  

I liked the idea of framing an abstract place where you would rather be.

2. Begin painting

I did a lot of the painting on the floor. The bubble-like forms are composed from flicking water into the oil paint. Since oil isn't water soluble, the water marks end up removing the pigment--leaving residual droplets behind.

3. Finalize painting

On the inner portion, I wanted to refine the piece while still leaving evidence of the water-like bubbles. It took me a long time to find a color that wasn't too dark, but wasn't too light to accomplish this. On the outside portion, I wanted to create a gradient in a color that complimented the inner panel. I spent hours wet-on-wet blending to make the transitions look smooth. While not pictured here, the sides are painted as well.

4. Display

Ultimately, I ended up hanging "Waterscape" on the wall amongst a constellation of other pieces. Together, they formed an installation. The piece is now among the private collection of UNC Asheville's provost. More and photos of "Waterscape" can be found here.