"He's touching me!"

"Dogfight", 45x36"

There are two methods of rendering imagery I have wrestled with in the studio. One, being the methodical, tight representational approach I learned as an ungrad and the other, a more expressionistic/gestural stroke which I found in graduate studies. Both have served me well, yet often I have felt like a big blue void with two skilled pilots trying to outmanuver one another and get the upperhand.

Oddly enough, the control I sought to reconcile this comes from a printmaking technique known as the state print. Whereby, the subject matter is worked on the plate, printed and then any forthcoming insights or alterations are reworked on the same plate. This creates beautiful and intriguing fields that allow the process and evolution to be presented in a series. This layering and meshing of stages has begun to allow me to teach my two demanding kids "discipline"..... or how to get along, stop squabbling in the backseat and allow me some peace.