“In a sense, the painting is a means of explaining my intentions to myself.” – Jane Freilicher My paintings actually start with walks in the woods, by ponds, streams, and seashores. They spring from the sense of metaphysical well-being that often arises in natural surroundings. When I start a painting, it’s an emotional reaction to what’s beautiful in the subject. I need to be struck by something in the real world. Sometimes, it’s chance fragments – a view of trees, a slice of sky, clouds, the patterns of water lilies, reflections in water. Sometimes it’s the stillness, the light, the color. There is an eternity in nature. That’s the impetus. I use photographs that I take as stimuli for paintings. Then, during the process of painting, the initial concept evolves and other things enter in. The process of painting is the solving of problems – color, form, texture – and leads to something that was unknown at the start. During the Renaissance and the Baroque periods in Europe, artists painted on copper, utilizing the reflective qualities inherent in the metal to accentuate a sense of spiritual luminescence in their two-dimensional works. I like the weathered patina of old copper so I generally use recycled copper - mostly flashing – for my paintings when I can get it. Otherwise I use new copper sheeting and sometimes apply chemicals to creat patinas. I find that the copper surfaces interact with the subject matter in ways that are both apt and surprising. I use impasto and transparent glazes together with lines I scratch into the copper to produce depth and luminosity. All images Copyright © 2007 Nora Charney Rosenbaum