I have a polyamorous relationship to materials. I didn’t have a formal art school education so I wasn’t “taught” the specific qualities of each medium but rather I experimented with supplies over time without judgment as well as lots of looking at art and noting the materials and properties. My desire was to make a picture. Color, relationship of objects, shadow, mass, scale and all the interplay between conscious and unconscious choices were elements bound by the material. The material formed the matrix of the picture and material properties stood to enhance or defeat the picture. My practice of image making includes acrylic and oil but I have a special relationship with water-based gouache. I’m looking forward to using spray paint, which, to date, I never have.
– Elizabeth Snelling
