A New Painting: "T-Square"

T-Square, egg tempera on calfskin parchment, 9 x 9 in.

My last painting was all about Curves, but this newest work is all straight lines, except for the curve of shadow on the central rectangle. This frontal image––close to symmetrical but not quite––of receding planes is rather austere with its horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines.

T-Square detail

Some light-hearted color, pink and green, counter the solemn mood.

I've been thinking about how my paintings have changed over the past few years, changes that might not be evident in online photos, so here are four works to illustrate the shift. The two above are from 2011, the two below are my most recent. My paintings have gotten gradually larger, with a larger internal scale, by which I mean larger forms and less small detail. The painting on the upper left, Yellow Tilt, is close to the size I'm working with now, but you can see that there's a lot more going on in it. With the blue painting, Plus Minus, the composition is pared down, but the size is a lot smaller at 5 x 6 inches than my current work. It's a subtle change, but to me it feels like an important one. I am aiming for drama within simplicity and intimacy.