From the Artist: After about a 25-year hiatus, I started painting again in 1998. Subject matter came from magazines. The largest collection of paints I had on hand were acrylics, so I started painting with those. (Today, I prefer oils.) Since my training in college was primarily in abstract expressionism, it was only natural that I approached the paintings in that style.

The 1998 paintings are two versions inspired by a photo of Prague in a travel magazine.

The relationship of the shapes attracted me to the photo. In the photograph, the colors were mostly earth tones, really not much color at all. That was okay as it allowed me to use my imagination and construct color relationships within the shapes.

Although both paintings were a struggle, the first one, the green interpretation, really presented a problem to getting use to make paint and brushes do what I wanted them to do, although most times I wasn't quite sure of what I wanted at all. Overall, I was pleased with the colors if not necessarily the relationship of shapes to shapes.

This project has put me to thinking about tackling this subject again. I wonder what sort of painting would result after 10 years of painting consistently... what have I learned?

From the Painting Guide: I try to include only paintings done specifically for a project in the gallery rather than ones an artist has, but I'm sure Painting Forum members who know Rene will find seeing these as intriguing as I have.