How I Need You When You're Gone, oil on canvas 2023

I have a fondness for emotionally charged, saturated colors in my work. Paintings by the Fauvists and German Expressionists, Van Gogh, and the Northern California Colorists of the early twentieth century like August Gay and Seldon Gile always resonated with me. I like the directness of a strong color and I relish the challenge of finding interesting ways of establishing relationships, either harmonious or discordant, between two or more strong colors. But I also love the subtlety of these almost "non" colors and near-greys that are seemingly drained of vitality. Working with these colors presents different challenges because their lack of saturation makes them very similar. They tend to look the like the same grey on the palette but once they start to interact with each other on the canvas, their subtle differences assert themselves and the take on characteristics of green, violet, orange, etc.. These colors are also effective for conveying emotions, but in a quieter way. This painting has a sadness that I like very much. I struggled with this painting for several weeks, as I tried to get the sense of space that I wanted. Those dull oranges showed up in the final hour and pulled it all together.