Adjusting the white to blue made all the difference
Knowing when a piece is finished is a combination of feelings involving the experience of crescendo in physical experience, ambiguity of perception due to extended involvement, and the release of my control over the idea that motivated me. This relinquishment of idea is not necessarily a loss of direction so much as allowing myself to arrive at the place I didn’t plan to be. I find that the value of this experience is multifaceted. In the case of the painting below, it is the way in which giving over to the needs of the work as the project progressed opened a path that lead away from my influences that may have been subconsciously pulled into the formal aspects of this painting.
Index. 2019. Oil on canvas with mixed media paper collage

Even though the lighting in the image below is much more warm than above, the energy that relatively small area of blue brings to the piece adds a spacial element missing in the piece above. There seems to be more movement in the final image. I must have returned to the painting five or seven times to look at how the visual elements drew connections – making determinations about how they could be read and the implications of their reading. I thought I was finished, and after photographing, had to pick up the brush and glaze that form in the center blue. Now it’s done.
Portland Five- Memorial Union Concourse Gallery
Looking Forward to Studios Visits with the Students at OSU!
Inflectionist Review No. 4 James Halvorson Featured Artist
I’ve enjoyed reading up on Inflectionism. Glad to be a featured artist in The Inflectionsist Review No.4, it’s affirming to be found by these poets and writers.
Our goals are truly aligned. Please enjoy their words.
These links introduce you to Inlfectionism
University Libraries at USD Presents Altered Book Exhibition Bound and Unbound III
Source: University Libraries at USD Presents Altered Book Exhibition Bound and Unbound III
On veiw through winter, two of my mixed media pieces “Curios” and “History of Science” are in good company with this juried international exhibition.
Explore the third iteration of this innovative Bienniel at: http://libguides.usd.edu/BU3
“Artist Sandy Brooke, associate professor of art at the College of Liberal Arts, Oregon State University Cascades in Bend, Oregon juried the exhibition.
Artists from Canada, Romania, Spain and the United States are represented in this exhibition. Sixty-three artists qualified the call representing 115 pieces. The exhibition comprises 37 artists representing 46 works.”