Studio journal
Notes from the work table.
Short pieces about how the pour actually goes, what the colors do when nobody is in charge of them, and how a canvas in your own palette gets made.
On the pour
“The paint decides. I just keep it moving.”
Every piece starts as a cup of thinned acrylic in whatever colors I mixed that day. I turn the cup over onto the canvas and then tilt it, and from there it is a conversation — I can push the paint where it goes, but I cannot tell it what shape to take. Where the cells open, how far one color travels into another, whether the edge goes lacy or hard: none of that is drawn beforehand. That is the whole reason I keep doing it. There is no copy function.
On color
Bring me a color you already love
Half of what I paint starts as someone handing me something that is not paint at all. A paint chip from the hardware store. A photograph of a rug. A favorite sweater. A piece of sea glass. I mix that palette, send a look, and pour once we agree. You do not have to know the names of the colors — the thing itself is better.
On the vases
I paint the vases. I don’t make the glass.
The vases in my gallery start as glass I buy — usually brand new, sometimes a box of them somebody is letting go. I wash each one, stand it on top of a canvas, and pour the same fluid acrylic over both, so the vase and the painting come out of one pour. Then I work the design the same way I work a canvas: tilting it, running a blow dryer over the surface, or setting it on a spinning wheel until the paint does what I want. Once it has set I go over it with a protective coat so it won’t fade or take water damage. So the glass is not mine, and I won’t pretend it is. The painting on it is — and because it comes off the same pour, a vase and the canvas beside it were quite literally made together.
How a custom painting goes
- 01You send the paletteA photo, a swatch, or a few words. Through the form on the custom order page, or just call or text it to me.
- 02I come back with the planWhat I would pour, roughly how big, and what it costs. Nothing is poured until you are happy with it.
- 03One pour, a few days to cureThe paint runs and settles, then it cures flat. After that it is yours, and there is exactly one of it.
- 04You see it before it shipsI photograph the finished piece and send it to you. If you love it, we sort out getting it to you from there.
Prefer to just talk it through? Call or text (661) 535-9897.
Seen something you want in your colors?
Tell me the palette and I'll pour it — one canvas, or a pair that hangs together. Every painting comes out different, and that's the whole point.