My paintings are total fiction, even the ones that reference an actual place.
At the beginning, I never know what a painting will become. I start with as empty a mind as possible. Beginner's Mind.
I love the somatic experience of painting. I love the physical substance of oil paint. And I love the vibration of colors.
These are the things that pull me along the process. I don't concern myself with where a painting lands on the spectrum of abstraction/representation.
Imagery and narrative take a back seat.
So many paintings exist beneath the one you see. They all had to emerge and disappear for the final piece to arrive.
I believe that I do not make my paintings, I discover them.