Dennis Hollingsworth

Ragpicker

I spent the day tweaking. Little details.

Nips and tucks.

A pleasant day.

I look over detail for detail, looking for fullness or lack. I pour over the surface, eyes agog. Sometimes, I have to pull back and squint to check the overall composition. But the major compostional effort is spent by now. At this stage, I can only try to bring certain parts to a peak power

Sometimes by the addition of the little spiny balls I call "monads", I can take a certain place and magnify the uniqueness of the features of that place. I have a theory... the spines of the monads provide an abundance of visual detail. And this excites the eye to see more detail within a corona surrounding the monad. A halo of excited visuality. The painting becomes a teeming site of these halos, a hive of altered states.

Sometimes, most times, I can scoop out an offending piece of the surface. I keep large shears and carve stiff cardstock into the proper tool. Utilitarian origami. At the beginning, I'm aware that the first layer of paint might be seen again.