Painting Tools at the Heart of the Process

I want to share a little about the tools I’ve been using in this series—because they are what help me bring these ideas into form.

You can see a number of palette knives lined up in the photo, and they are by far my most-used tools right now. I use them to mix paint and apply it directly onto the canvas, building up the surface and creating those layered square forms.

As the paintings have grown in size, the tools have too. What started with smaller knives has expanded into larger ones to match the scale of the work.

Something else that’s been really important is having everything organized and within reach. When I feel the impulse to adjust something—to add, subtract, or shift—I can respond right away without breaking that creative flow.

I’m not using brushes very much in this series. It’s mostly palette knives, along with a few other tools I’ll share more about soon. I find this to be a very tactile, hands-on process—and I’m really enjoying that.

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