Noble Prism

16 in x 24 in

6/2026

This is the third iteration of a painting made entirely of triangles in a rainbow sequence. It was commissioned by someone who saw the image of a prior version on the back of my business card and asked me to duplicate it. The painting reads as a prismatic field of fractured light; an “extended” rainbow sweeps from warm magentas, reds and oranges on the left through yellows and greens to cool teals, blues and violets on the right. The transitions are not abrupt; instead, each hue dissolves into the next through many midtones, so that the eye never hits a hard boundary but experiences a slow chromatic migration to give a sense of atmospheric depth. I emptied out the art cart for this one… 123 distinct colors in all, including many custom colors, 21 metallics, 35 “transparent” tones, and 67 opaque paints. By combining these different kinds and applying them either flat or with texture, they add complexity to provide visual interest to the finished work. There are eight distinct bands of color, with each band having anywhere between twelve and nineteen distinct hues, playing slightly lighter tones against darker tones with the intention that no section should feel flat or mechanical. To me, viewing the painting is like watching stained glass shift as daylight moves. The grid was all done by hand with a mechanical pencil and a little ruler – a surface made up of small, irregular triangles that interlock without forming a predictable pattern. Each facet feels like a tiny pane of glass, reinforcing the “prism” idea in the title. Though the viewer may notice individual triangles and micro-patterns, on a more global scale the triangles merge into larger, almost wave-like bands that correspond to color zones. This gives the painting the dynamic quality of a kaleidoscope. In all, I estimate the painting took about 90-100 hours to complete – a lot of work but a beautiful finished product.