Venturi, Carmen

Against the Grain, Acrylic on Canvas, 20" x 42" - $449.00

“To move from representational to abstract painting was ‘entering the realm of the unknown’. What surprise waits for me when I start a painting? I am carried by my personal vision of style, composition, colours, movements and brush strokes. I sometimes sweat in opposition to all of that, working something that doesn’t feel right, to push myself. I paint and repaint a canvas, obscuring a previous works. They become the atmosphere for the new effort. You can make out textures and subtle colours under the new façade. I am not always successful in minimizing control, which comes from a lifetime of painting watercolours. Making a ‘mistake’ in this medium would ‘ruin’ the paper. I’ve come to understand that a mistake in abstract/expressionism might be the inspiration I’ve been looking for I am often tempted not to varnish a piece because I have a compulsion to tinker with it. Knowing when to stop is the biggest challenge. It is never finished until it becomes some else’s property.