SEATTLE

I started a new series of paintings this afternoon. They are a collaboration with another artist, a photographer. We are experimenting with printing images (his) from a recent trip to Seattle onto maps. I am then working in oils and wax over the images.

The challenge for me as I work is how to truly "collaborate" rather than simply superimpose my work over his work. How do I enter into a dialogue with his composition, color, and light as opposed to asserting my own?

What the initial lesson that this practice seems to be suggesting to me is the larger issue of balance in any relationship that two people are creating from individual experiences. How do we create something new and beautiful that is a blend of two individuals where the sum is greater than the parts and where there is no obscuring of one for the sake of the other?