“In a sense, the painting is a means of explaining my intentions to myself.” – Jane Freilicher My paintings actually start with walks in the woods, by ponds, streams, and seashores. They spring from the sense of metaphysical well-being that often arises in natural surroundings. When I start a painting, it’s an emotional reaction to what’s beautiful in the subject. I need to be struck by something in the real world. Sometimes, it’s chance fragments – a view of trees, a slice of sky, clouds, the patterns of water lilies, reflections in water. Sometimes it’s the stillness, the light, the color. There is an eternity in nature. That’s the impetus. I use photographs that I take as stimuli for paintings. Then, during the process of painting, the initial concept evolves and other things enter in. The process of painting is the solving of problems – color, form, texture – and leads to something that was unknown at the start. I like the weathered patina of old copper so I generally use recycled copper - mostly flashing – for my paintings. To prepare the copper for painting, I need to remove old tar, hammer out large bumps, and clean the surface with mineral spirits. Then I cut it into rectangles. Because the copper sheet can bend, it needs to be supported. I make a wooden frame to which I glue lauan plywood and then glue the copper to the plywood. Old copper flashing has two sides. The side in contact with the roof is protected from the elements and retains its smooth, copper-colored finish; the other side is exposed to the air, oxidizes, develops a verdigris quality and has a grittier surface. I tend to use the smoother side. During the Renaissance and the Baroque periods in Europe, artists painted on copper, utilizing the reflective qualities inherent in the metal to accentuate a sense of spiritual luminescence in their two-dimensional works. I paint on recycled sheets of copper because their weathered surfaces interact with the subject matter in ways that are both apt and surprising. I use impasto and transparent glazes together with lines I scratch into the copper to produce depth and luminosity. All images Copyright © 2007 Nora Charney Rosenbaum