Up to the Mountains

This was one of the first paintings accomplished after my breakthrough in Paris in 1964. In a state of apprehension, I put together a set-up and began painting. WOULD I or COULD I remember all I'd learned in so short a time, or would I flounder and wind up back at "square one?"

As the painting began "working" and my confidence returned, I happily slathered on paint with the palette knife in a mood of joy and thanksgiving. My newfound freedome and ability to express emotions and feelings in paint HAD survived. It was not just a dream!

"Up to the mountains" is a very "up" painting---one of those peak experiences, as the title suggests. My mood was one of excitement and extreme happiness.

In retrospect, the beginnings of a circular motif--especially in the sweeps of mauve and black in the center--seems apparent. But alos, in the composition as a whole, the various colors are repeated around the canvas in a circular rhymn. This harkens back to Hofmann's color interval theory but also seems a harbinger of things to come.