"SPAO"

NFS - 24x20x1.5", acrylic and mixed media on canvas

I'm really enjoying using the cardboard. It gives wonderful texture, especially when glued down and then ripped off. Also, sometimes it has a stowaway, such as white paper on the reverse, or tape that's left flapping (which appears in this piece). Mind you, I'm a little cautious of being trite. There are textural effects that are used too commonly, and cardboard might be one. We'll see. Speaking of effects, I do like the one you can see on the right of putting tape down, adding paint, letting it dry, then pulling it up. I don't think I've done that since college.

Compositionally, this was a bit of a conundrum. You can see it if you use your hand to hide the block in the lower right corner. The painting then becomes more amorphous, consisting mostly of dripping colors. The block gives it structure. But after I put it in, it still seemed too obstructive and obdurate. Eventually I added the circles, and that helped. The fact that they're not in a straight line, and, in fact, that they mimic the curve of the cardboard across the top, adds a bit of swirl to the picture.

My husband says his eyes keep returning to the spot of red at the bottom, left of center. I actually like leaving a bit of raw canvas. It seems more honest.

And, FYI, if you're wondering where the name comes from, it's a bit of text in the upper right quadrant (see the picture, below; you might need to click it). I like the name because names are hard. They can limit a picture by telling you what I meant you to see, which forces you to interpret it a certain way. This was just handed to me and leaves it wide open. I hope.