The paintings are more about physicality and gesture than meditation. I'd compare it to playing scales on the Cello - each sound (pitch and intensity) depends on the manner in which you hold and apply the bow. The same goes for the gesture of applying paint to a surface.
Stephen BealI am very invested in the physical activity and the decision-making that is involved with making paintings - nothing else is quite like it.
Stephen BealOnly at the end of the last stroke of paint, you can begin to wonder what needs to be done next.
Stephen BealI have, and do sometimes, work with other media. But there is something about the physical activity and the directness of painting that I find fascinating. I am very attracted to the materiality of paintings and the visual phenomena of hue and value.
Stephen Beal