Color Field

We are all influenced somewhat by the landscape we inhabit. Much of my work has been based on my daily walks in Newport’s Back Bay where I’m able to notice the multitude of variations in a single particular place. I have gone back and forth between abstract and more realistic interpretations of that familiar landscape. I started the Color Field paintings as a means of analyzing subtle color changes which in turn became acts of meditation.

The color field studies were done when I first came back to egg tempera as a medium, having studied it as a student at the Boston Museum School 30 years or so earlier. The cross-hatched linear application of paint referenced my love of drawing and printmaking, and the layering of colors satisfied my need for exploration in this area. I tried to replicate in a simple small square the exact colors of nature which I found on my daily walks in the Back Bay. Before I began defining forms these little paintings turned out to be an invaluable exercise and one I intend to continue.