A Study in Brown

20 in x 24 in

1/2020

This was among my very first paintings. I turned to painting to deal with an unexpected and terrible situation at work.  I found painting to be an “escape” from all of this, but I had no training as an artist per se.  I liked to paint, but my skills as an artist were elementary.  I remembered seeing some works of Piet Mondrian in various museums like the National Gallery in Washington, DC, and I figured “well, I could try that style” since it looked straightforward and within reach.  “A Study in Brown” was my very first Mondrian-style painting.  It was fun to lay down the grid with rulers, figure out which tapes to use to give the crispest lines, and to highlight the individuality of various acrylic colors.  Finding and making unique colors that went together was a challenge, but I enjoyed the process, and most of all, it allowed me to get absorbed in something other than my professional woes at the time.  The color palette was chosen to exactly match our entrance hallway, and that is where it remains today.