I took my paper folding-painting to another level with the study below. This is a continuation of my adaptation of Simon Hantaï’s technique of painting on folded canvas (see Abstract – After Simon Hantaï).

I began using a French Curve as a template to incise several lines with a steel point. These fine lines were virtually invisible. Then I creased the paper in parallel folds, and then obliquely.

I gathered the paper into a long strip, with the folds collapsed much as a deflated accordion. I then painted/dripped various colors along the edge. After the paint dried, I unfolded the paper and reconfigured it so the oblique folds formed troughs. I dripped paint into these channels and tilted the paper to move the colors along.

Some of the color leached into the fine lines that I initially etched into the paper, adding just a bit of curvilinear form to the composition.

The ambiguity in this abstract is rampant. It is part aerial view; part Rorschach Test, with local symmetries; foliage; drip painting.  A 90 degree rotation might be the proper setting for this painting. I haven’t decided which orientation I like best.