Image Archaeologist™

Today I wrote a new artist statement to depict my current work. The writing lead me into changing the look of my whole blog and also changing the name. I am still "a painter who blogs but my new statement will explain why I changed my blog title.

My New Artist Statement
I describe my self as an Image Archaeologist™.
My images evolve out of the surface of the canvas by carving into the wet gesso with the butt of a paintbrush. I dig into the surface to carve out the image and then brush layers of paint over the dried gesso imprint to unveil the etched surface ground. The carving is uncovered by rubbing paint into the surface grooves. Multiple layers of paint are brushed lightly over the beveled edges unearthing the image. Each layer adds an illusion of depth and is brushed and wiped away as the image unfolds. The image is found within the surface ground thus making it “image archaeology. This is my approach to the process of painting.
Today's painting is called Two Ipods. Painted last week it seemed appropriate to post as the original "Ipod" painting was a part of the "Mid Atlantic Painting Exhibition" last January at Mary Washington University. Ipod is the first in my series of images I call "earth objects".