Paintings \ Blue Barn

Oil painting - "Block Study," September 2003

Well, it all has to start somewhere, doesn't it. For me, with Impressionism, it starts with block studies like this one. "Everything is a block," my painting teacher says. What he means is that form underlies all we see, and if we can get to an essential form, we can understand how to represent it in paint according to the rules of perspective and all that. And quickly, before the light changes and we lose the essence of that particular moment. When I paint block studies like this, my mind remains focused and my hand nimble. It's beneficial to get back to the roots every so often, like a drummer practicing his rudiments.