From time to time, I will amble through a flea market to see what there is to see, and from time to time, I will come out with an antique printer tray because these things fascinate me. Imagine the stories they could tell—the stories they DID tell.

What I do with them is this: I take sheets of Arches oil paper, which is paper designed for oil paintings, and I cut them into small pieces to fit the compartments of the tray. I lay these pieces out on boards in the same configuration as the tray, and I begin painting.

Over a period of a couple of weeks, I add layers and layers of oil paint and cold wax until I achieve an abstract landscape, even though, on these boards, it doesn't look like much.

After the pieces have dried, I mount them to spacers and insert them into their respective compartments, leaving some empty for your imagination to fill in, and the landscape appears like magic. 

Of course, it's a bit of work and not magic at all that makes it happen, but I enjoy the process, and I absolutely love the results. These paintings are a statement—a curiosity—a puzzle to be worked out when you view them from across the room.

HERE is my most recent finished printer tray painting, with a field of wildflowers growing beneath a pleasing sky.