My show, “Pictures of No Things,”  opens February 2nd at Blackfish Gallery in Portland, featuring drawings and paintings created with no intended significance and that are not meant to be some thing. By resisting the notion of intentionally creating meaning, I find freedom in simply creating marks and allowing those to guide color choices and composition. Needless to say, meaning happens anyway. To paraphrase one of my teachers, as well as the Book of Common Prayer, “whenever there are two or more things, colors, objects or any combination thereof are gathered together, people will create meaning.” And that initself is a whole other blog topic!

These works on paper are composed of multiple layers of Sumi, acrylic, and India inks and watercolor. I began this particular way of working about 6 years ago alongside other projects. I particularly delight in making rich and varied surfaces with a range of mark-making tools, favorites of which include Chinese calligraphy brushes, ceramic slip, and acrylic varnish brushes.