Roller paintings are paintings made with rollers, sometimes referred to as brayers by people in the print making world. The works in this section of the website were all made with various tools including paint brushes, fingers, etc. But what distinguishes them enough to give them their own section on the website is the fact that they were made with rollers.
Furthermore, the works in this section are all small and all on paper. These are essentially sketches. As sketches they are often among the most intimate things I make and closest to the creative nexus of my efforts to discover how to paint what my creative urges are dictating.
Because there are a lot of these works, I can not write about each one as I have tried to do with each entry in the other sections of this site. I will just say that in addition to being among my most intimate creations, they may be the most intellectually original. Over the course of almost 30 years I have explored the connection between repetition, memory and how we use things like that to construct reality and time. A roller inherently repeats itself with each revolution. And yet it is modified by so many factors that obfuscate, sharpen, replicate and overlap as well as leave untouched space. The possibilities for spontaneous creation and variation are endless. Furthermore, it is fun.
If you are persistent, you can start with the older sub folders and work your way up to the present. You will see how this technique and it’s ideas are inherent in the very beginning but definitely develop in complexity and quality over time. Enjoy!
2019
2019
2019
2019
“Conceptual Impressionist Piece #3”
Oil on panel
48” x 24”
2019
This piece was created in the summer of 2019 in my new studio at the old Rainier Brewery in Seattle. This was my first studio in over 5 years. Here, I was able to explore in larger format the ideas I had been working on for years on small pieces of paper in hotel rooms and small apartments.
These paintings are created using traditional abstract impressionist techniques of loose open brush work. However, they also depend heavily for their effect on this use of rollers or brayers as they are sometimes called. These are the tools that print-makers use to load ink onto a plate for printmaking. Here, the roller is used to apply paint directly to the painting, more like the way a house painter uses a roller to apply paint to a wall.
The roller is at once both mechanical with a clearly defined left and right edge and loose edges depending on how one handles it. However, the effects can be as rich and varied as those achieved with a brush. It also has the ability to convey repetition with the completion of each revolution of the roller. This is something a brush simply can not do. I exploited this component to suggest collage and properties of memory which is why I think of these paintings as conceptual impressions rather than “optical” impressions. They are not just a visual impression of something. They are also an impression of how we think about or remember something.
“Global Melting”
Oil on panel
48” x 33”
2019
This painting could also be called “conceptual impressionist piece #…” It was created with rollers and brushes and like most of my work in this vein it did not start out to be a painting about global warming or even to attempt to look like melting glacial ice. I was a mountaineer for a period of my life and I am familiar with what glacial ice looks like in the summer and when it is in retreat. Hence, that is how this piece got its name. However, it could be something else entirely to another viewer.
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
1996
1996
1996