New Layers 2015 - 

  New layers is a continuing project I started in Italy. I wanted to continue one of the portraits from Sessions I; however, it was finished. A piece of tracing paper, was lying on the floor next to me (in Italy their tracing paper is thicker like architectural drafting paper) and was a material I was using to do rubbings of textures throughout the city. I started by wondering what it would be like to paint on and then I taped it over my finished portrait and began tracing my original painting. When you paint on a transparent surface you immediately cover up what you are looking at. This created a fragmented tension by constantly obscuring my view and having to rely on memory to complete the brush stroke. This allowed me to move my brush in a new way, with precision similar to pointillism and also kept my palette bright and less muddied. This is a meditative process of reproduction, a more intimate experience with material than when I am painting from life.