The creation of a painting begins with a random mark.  That mark starts a process of association and remembering that drives the act of painting.  Once the painting process is underway, my actions become intuitively physical and I try not to let the mind interfere too much.  With the paint I scratch, incise, smooth over, cover and uncover.  This process is an excavation, a mining of subconscious space.  Comprised of a build-up of layers, the surface can resemble fossils or old walls that have been affected by weather and time.  The writing is indecipherable in order to convey the rhythm and gestural appearance of the marks, rather than a literal meaning. Like ruminations, the images come and go, remain strong and insistent or fade away.  It is a mysterious, mystical process whereby I must trust my own feelings, instincts and senses.  "Making" in this manner feels authentic.  It is an act that reflects the natural cycling of creation and destruction.