Where are you looking at? 2013

Jose Higuera posed a question with oil on canvas, 'Where are you looking at?' That warm, earthy backdrop looks brushed and worked. It reminds me of my own painting; the way the piece starts as one thing, gets wiped away, and then builds back up into something new through layers of trial and error. I wonder about the day Higuera made this. The stillness of the child with the kitten. That look into the distance. The red flowers. The yellow pillow. And of course the bright red drape. Painting can be like setting up a stage, arranging colors and forms to express a feeling. Like Fairfield Porter, he captures the beauty of the everyday. The surface is smooth, a contrast to the gestural brushwork of someone like Joan Mitchell, yet the painting retains an intimacy that draws you in. It reminds me that artists are always in conversation, borrowing and building upon one another's insights.