In the Court of the Last Panjandrum (Contemporary Abstract) Painting

"I have been painting seriously for somewhere around 35 years, but have only ever sold regionally - most recently, through my gallery on Magazine Street in New Orleans. As a dealer, I am now able to reach a worldwide audience; I have recently sold paintings to collectors in London, Madrid, Beirut, even to owners of a notable Chardonnay vineyard, and it is pleasing to know my "offspring" are out there in the world at large. So I am going to begin reserving some of my work to offer here. In my paintings, I use a variety of media - nearly always oil and acrylic, but often wax, tar and other materials. This series of paintings (more to come) are primarily about the surface and materials, which have always been my chief interest. The "objects" are mostly something to wrap the paint around. I am as interested in the negative space as the positive, and spend a lot of time on the layering, taking out and covering up, wiping and scraping, modulating color, texture and sheen, to get it where I want it. I end up with my fingers in the paint as often as brushes."