This is photo-collage painting #3 and is called "Red Geraniums".  In this  painting I opened up the space with white areas.  This is a nice change for me from some of my other paintings where they seem to be a little filled up.  Even though I'm working from a collage it is especially exciting for me to see these paintings develope.  I make changes along the way from the original collage allowing the painting to speak to me along the way, guiding me.

This painting was created backwards.  The trees are actually painted first.  They were masked out and then I painted the background and middleground on top of the masked out trees.  When the painting was dry I unmasked the trees and I was seeing the whole painting for the first time.  It was like opening up a Christmas present.

This painting 5in by 5in made for Tampa Museum of Art Exhibition to raise money for artist grants and programs.  I have been making quick small studies of houses in different settings as a variation on a theme.  This is the first painting derived from these studies. I like the way the idea developes and changes from its original stage.

I've been experimenting with collage for a long time now.  The previous collages except for. lady on the phone, were all done on the scanner.  I just take collage elements and move them around randomly on the scanner.  Each time I get a new image, and the images are infinite.  "House with Pumpkin" is an accumulation of all the collages I've done up to now.  Lady on the phone was my earlier attempt to put a collage into a painting.  Just recently, the collages have made more sense to me, to put into painting.  I use a different method than the scanner now.  I take collage elements and shift them around and I shoot photos of them.  Once again, the images are infinite.  The process in these reminds me of French Dada painter Jean Arp where he took cut out paper and let them fall randomly onto his working surface.  Chance played a big part in the final image, however it was still controlled with the shapes he used and how he let them fall.  My photo-collages are also controlled and chance.