This work continues my exploration into the language of formal aesthetics and emphasizes the physicality of paint and the process of working with a variety of media. While I understand the rules of abstraction, I break them at times to create a sense of allure and tension. I make conscious selections of materials in response to my knowledge of how the materials react with the painting’s surface as well as how these materials react with each other. In this work I use polymer medium to create large pools of color, gouaches that result in strange washes, and a variety of other acrylic media. Whether it’s canvas or panel I’m constantly interacting with a flat plane. I like the idea of everything being visually contained on the painting’s surface while also letting certain marks appear to escape or propel off the canvas. Frank Stella’s Irregular Polygon series (1966–67) remains an important influence on me, I am especially interested in his ability to see and describe the phenomenon of static movement—the idea that shapes can be contained while still having a visual force or momentum. These paintings further explore these ideas through the process of deliberate and intentional mark making to communicate a form of control while other marks possess an unpredictable and sometimes bizarre looseness. I consider this process as a way of meeting the paint halfway, as a negotiation between how I expect the paint to react and also embodying the paint with a degree of intent. I enjoy the struggle.