Residual Stress

Residual Stress began as an exploration of a monochromatic palette. I wanted to see how much movement and variation I could create within shades of blue, relying on changes in value, layering and texture rather than contrasting color. I added the drips simply to introduce another kind of movement across the surface.

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The title came later. As I looked at the finished painting, I began to recognize something in the darker areas and the marks that seemed to linger beneath the quieter passages. They reminded me of stress that remains even after the immediate cause has passed—something still present beneath the surface that hasn't completely worked its way out.

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Residual Stress was painted during the same session as Blue Field, and both began as studies of a limited palette. Looking back, I see how that experimentation also gave form to something I was carrying at the time. The painting wasn't created to describe that feeling, but somehow it found its way into the work.