Starting a painting is sort of the middle of the process.  I''ve already done a lot of groundwork--looking, thinking, looking some more.  Its a visual process so it is difficult to put into words.   Isadora Duncan once said" if I could explain it, I wouldn't need to dance it."  In other words, its a different kind of communication.  Describing St. Marks Cathedral:  its large and has lots of windows?  Its better to paint it.   Ideas sometimes come suddenly--Eureka!  Sometimes they evolve--I may paint several pictures before I get to the idea I wanted.  Sometimes I'm just curious and want to try something.  Sometimes I've painted something I really like and want to paint more--kind of like that 2nd piece of pie.

I rarely paint what I see.  I paint idealized subjects.  I start with maybe a road or a house and imagine the rest.   I try not to get too caught up in the details of a picture--I want to have just enough, but not too much.  I get ideas while driving.  I take lots of pictures and look at lots of other artists' and photographers' work.  I don't confine myself to the real colors.  If I think red grass is prettier, the grass is red.  I have found that if the picture works, no one much minds about the red grass. 

The really important thing is to get to the point--something you notice I rarely do while talking.  Paint what you want to paint, not what you think somebody wants you to paint.  Try not to let any layers between you and the image.  When I started to paint, I thought, 'This is MY rectangle'.  No one gets to tell me what to put here.  It gets really hard sometimes to keep other people and events out of the rectangle.  But that's what I try to do.  I don't  have a political agenda, or any kind of agenda for that matter.  No layers.  It may be there, but it wasn't intentional.

Design is important.  I can't even begin to explain that except it feels satisfying.  Complete in some way.  Design is with me all along the way.   Lines complete other lines.  Shapes and colors echo.  Like a circular story that ends where it begins, only everything has changed along the way.