Hans Hoffman inspired in "Embrace" Series

Sometimes you do not mean for things to happen in art.

Sometimes you create and are inspired in the back of your brain

and it bubbles up and captures your current work.

And others point it out.  Artists or peers that you trust and listen to their input.

This has happened in the "Embrace " Series.  Not every paintings, or even every

stroke.  But it has been heavily influenced by my love of Hans Hoffman's work.

He was bold.  He was brave.  He strove for perfection of form / color / and energy in his work.

I can only hope to aspire to such greatness.   For today, I will be happy to be influenced by him.

And maybe in some small sphere of creativity, capture some of his color work.

That is the part that really gets into my muse.   His color work and his color relationships 

make me strive to ONLY be spontaneous.

Often when starting a canvas I bring out my paint.  

It becomes a small road map of what will happen next. 

My base colors are larger tubs or cans and they are the foundation for

how I am feeling about this piece.  They give me the bone structure or skeleton for

the rest of what happens.  After the foundation is laid I begin to see the influence emerge.

In the case of Hans Hoffman, I see larger color blocks stack up.

I see edges defined, but as in all my work, destroyed.

So I begin with structure and end by taking it away.

Sounds like a life direction, especially for me.

So construction and then deconstruction.

Working with what remains but not overworking.

Overworking in paint creates MUD.

Mud is bad.  

At least for me it is.

I prefer stronger color relationships that play together

but are not so intertwined that they lose their own essence.

That is MUD.

So they co exist.  They play and go home afterwards.

Sounds like a good plan for life.