Creative Process

For the abstract work, I have no idea beforehand what I will paint. I begin with the colors, allowing intuitive urges to guide me. Using different techniques of collaging, pouring, splashing, and working with brushes, my fingers, cardboard, and other objects, I venture into the unknown. The spontaneity is freeing. At some point, it's time to make a painting out of it. Then the contemplative and art-world aspects enter the process. It often confronts me with problems to solve in making it into a cohesive whole with a good composition and good painting. A back-and-forth dialogue with the painting helps to flesh out what it's about. I know a piece is successful, or complete, when the painting has nothing else to say to me. In other words, it feels at peace and needs no more from me.