Syd Sterling

To paint water invites a paradox: A moment is stilled, yet the moment moves.

Painting rowboats afloat upon the water invites another paradox. Our eyes often take them for granted, but beyond their shapes and textures, their state of repair or disrepair, another, mysterious dimension is present: The presence of their owner’s absence, and the implicit, human stories left to our imagination.

One of the delights I find in painting is the daily summons to challenge myself. As time goes on, that summons grows stronger. Lately, I’ve relied more on texture and a fluid, expressive line — the painterly word is “loose.” To the eye of the beholder, this means a more adventurous energy sprung from the immediate excitement of the act of painting, and from the tactile, painted surface, itself.