Brain Trees

Through painting, I rely on non-visual sensory information recorded in the woods to inform aesthetic decisions. Research happens in the act of painting. All visual and written references inform the collection of source material, but research happens during the translation between lived experience and paint. When painting reveals meaning, looking at other artists paintings or subsequent readings about recently discovered themes can supplement the research and direct a new path of painted investigation, but can never replace painting. This document is a descriptive account of how my cognitive system translates sensorial energy observed in the woods into painting. In place of a table of contents, the adjacent map serves as a visual guide through the document with the three main headers becoming structural sections: Brain (pg. 04) ; Woods (pg. 14) ; Material (pg. 24). The rooted nature of this map better reflects the non-linear progression of thinking through painting utilized in my practice. Fictional and poetic references are included in this document with only an accompanying painting for context. These references have tangentially informed the production of paintings and are isolated for further interpretation and reflection alongside a finished painting.