Mid race one - step IV... I stopped before the finish line... and finished ahead!

As I do with most of my paintings, I left this one relatively unfinished in certain areas... but much more than what I am accustomed to... perhaps, because I benefited from some professional advice :))

There is even bare canvas in certain areas and, in others, I did not bother restating certain passages. This, conceptually, represents a quantum leap for me considering that I used to paint birds in full details, feather by feather! Back in 1998, after a 15 year hiatus from painting, I started to reprogram myself to accept more freedom of expression in my watercolors. Its been almost 2 years with acrylics and I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel... i.e., getting into the watercolor groove and experiencing a certain level of fluidity despite the use of pasty opaque colors.

With this last series, I hope to engage the viewer a little more by not clearly stating every components of a painting so that the ensemble only really makes sense from a distance (working in larger formats will help). In other words, I am after a certain abstract quality in close up views. At the same time, I also want to viewer to feel as if my paintings have been put together with a sense of urgency in an attempt to capture the fleeting moment.