1971 GRID SERIES

My early work was inspired by a number of 20th Century American Artists. They included Jules Olitski,
Frank Stella, Morris Lewis, Franz Kline, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, and Helen Frankenthaler.
They all made me think of a painting as just that, a painting. It was an object, paint on stretched canvas.
This idea gave me the foundation on which to build my notions of what my paintings were to be about.

Whatever I saw seemed to be a layering of patterns; some were solid, some translucent, some simple,
and some complex, and many contained color gradations. I chose a simple grid pattern, and in different ways, tried to represent that idea. I also kept in mind that I was making an object, hopefully a compelling one.

The wonderful part of this series was that despite my sometimes involved planning, the results were almost always a surprise.

SECOND GRID SERIES

The second small grid series was a switch to color gradations, overlaid, and the adjoining color edges then isolated. They, except for the first, were on a much smaller scale than the previous series. They were a very different way of viewing the original Grid Series inspiration.

CARDIFF SERIES

The Cardiff Series was inspired by a day spent with a good friend. It was a beautiful Santa Anna day.
We surfed a little, but mostly soaked up the unique beauty of the day. Colors and shapes were simple and crisp. It reminded me of my other early influence, Walt Disney.

Later I began sketching out what was to become the Cardiff Series. I decided to try using a simplified realism with overlapping shapes and vivid colors to establish the space and composition. My Grid Series gave way to semi-realism being the framework for my ideas about painting.

THE DRAWINGS

The last series in the Cardiff Group was a small set of drawings based on “ The Turkish Bath “
By Ingres. They were an experiment to see if I could use a similar style to that of the Cardiff
Series, but with figures. I liked the drawings, but couldn’t see them as larger paintings.

Also, about this time, I headed east to New York again.