There’s a particular kind of trust required when working in abstraction, particularly in an acrylic pour painting.
Pebble Beach began the way many of my abstract paintings do—with a feeling rather than a fixed image. All I had in mind when I started this piece was the colors. I knew I wanted deep blues, coppers, and golds. How they’d work together I wasn’t quite sure. But that’s what makes this type of abstract painting really fun for me.
Acrylic pour painting is a conversation. I introduce color, weight, and movement, and then the painting responds. As layers slide, collide, and settle, forms emerge that can’t be forced or predicted. At a certain point, the work begins to decide where it’s going. My job is to to follow along rather than override what’s unfolding.
This is where Stories of Shadow + Light lives for me. Darker tones gather and anchor the piece, while lighter passages surface unexpectedly, like light breaking through water. The contrast isn’t dramatic or loud—it’s patient, quiet, and earned over time. You begin with direction, but meaning arrives through listening. Much like standing at the shoreline, watching waves reshape the land, the process is slow, repetitive.. It is calming.. .and exciting as the painting takes shape.
Pebble Beach holds that rhythm. It’s a record of motion and stillness coexisting—a reminder that not everything needs to be decided at the beginning. Sometimes the most honest work happens when you allow yourself to follow.