Upshot, 14" x 10", oil on panel, 1996. Artist's collection.

This is a non-objective abstract expressionistic black and white composition over which I applied a scheme of colors, utilizing a glazing technique. The black and white under-painting is composed of passages of chaotic, textured, black and white pigment interspersed with passages of white and gray pigment wherein the direction of the brushwork becomes a compositional factor. As for the color scheme, the chaotic, more textured areas are rendered in warm hues of colored varnish. The directionally conceived brushstrokes are assigned hues of a cool nature. The horizontal brushstrokes are glazed in blue-green, and the vertical brushstrokes are glazed in blue-violet.

The color scheme was conceived in my response to recognizing the composition as having narrative attributes. I saw a figure in a river with waterfalls. The lateral movement of the water is green. The descending movement of the water (the falls) is violet. The figure and the protruding rocks of the wild river are red and orange. The narrative element negates the purity of the non-objective agenda of the composition, and the non-objective elements of the composition negates the full narrative, or representational, agenda. This visual/conceptual distinction is not drawn by a broad line. It is rather a very fine line--a balance of divergent visual issues, concepts, and intentions which I attempt to reconcile in this and a majority of my images.