I have tried to love shadows.....,

Garden Bench   mixed/paper   20.5 x 27

those areas of soft transparency where cools and warms play together and the reality of the moment is defined by the arc of the sun.  In fact, I love paintings by other artists where the story being told is about the shadows themselves, the objects that cast them being forced into supporting roles.  I also love back-lit paintings by other artists.  I just don't love doing them.  For me, the transparency has a place at the center of interest, in the story I am telling.  For me, opacity must play a counter-movement.  And so, "Garden Bench" started out as a pure watercolor.  It remained in my studio unresolved for a year or more.  I wanted an overall feel of chalkiness, of layer upon layer.  I relish the unexpected play of paint on the surface....the spattering, the marring, the dribbling.  Further work in gouache helped, but the resolution was still out of reach.  The work was satisfactorily completed in pastel.

"Garden Bench" is a mixed media work.  It simply had to be done.