Influence of Hue 40 x 40" oil/cold wax on panel ©2011 Janice Mason Steeves Each time I begin a painting, I wonder where it will go. I begin intuitively, holding a thought in my mind of what I'd like to express. My paintings are abstract investigations of landscape, symbols, memory and process. I know artists who are fully confident that even if they can't see what the finished painting will look like, trust that the process will resolve itself and become a painting. I can't say that I am so confident. When I step into the studio each day, I feel to some extent that I'm stepping into the abyss. This is the excitement of abstract painting. I have no idea where the work will go or how I will get there or if it will resolve itself. And yet they do, they always eventually do. I love that razor's edge though, between safety and the abyss. I think it keeps the work honest. There is some sense of terror there! ...