Painting is for me an intuitive rather than a demonstrative process.  I do not plan my paintings in advance.  I express myself through random patterns that elicit feelings and associations of a concrete visible reality.  Like life itself, something comes from nothing.  Within this landscape of infinite possibilities, almost anything goes.  It is an exploration in abstraction. 

While working, I seek to develop the image to a minimal essence of free and unencumbered space that reflects a state of balance.  My focus is on the relationship between negative and positive space, tight and open space, the interaction of color and light versus dark.  Repetitions of marks create tempo and rhythm to the formation of the painting.  New values, proportions, and harmonies originate in the working.  Compositions may include transformations or elements of the unexpected. 

This improvisational manner of painting using multiple layers in oil results in an organic and rich tactile surface that has irregularities of pattern and vibrant color.  It interests me how this will effect mood, emotion and the subconscious.

The work does not dictate, but provides a universal resonance that results from the absence of tangible images from a context.

Ellen Richman