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Arlene Tuck

Arlene Tuck

My images are about the paint: how a sable brush lets paint glide off smoothly, leaving no trace; or how a bristle brush leaves heavy expressive marks in paint; or how a scraping tool pushes the paint away, revealing the layers underneath. My images are about color: bright like jewels, or soft like dreams; colors that sing to each other. My images are about texture: the fabric or paper I adhere to the surface and the varied materials I use to make marks – brushes, sticks, pencils, pastels, inks. And my images are about the shapes and where they are placed on the canvas.

Most importantly, my images are about the journey of making a painting. I leave areas of blank canvas to show where the journey began and I expose areas of underpainting to show the layers that represent the stages of the journey. I may try to express a time of day or show a place in the landscape, do a still life or be non-objective, but my subject is always the act of painting. I continue the journey until the image works. What I am really painting is my joy in the materials, themselves, and the excitement and energy I find in applying them to canvas.