When we look at an image, whether it is Mother Nature's creation or man made, we see shapes that remind us of objects or landscapes. I use this phenomenon in my paintings. I do not decide what I am about to paint before I start, but rather paint what I see after the first application of the paint dries. An example of this process can be seen in my very first painting (titled "A Farm at Night"). After a few runs of black paint on white canvas, I saw the farm. There was very little left to do. A few red beaks, and a moon and then Sandy walked by and said "you need a fence" and, it was done. It seemed too easy; perhaps the luck of the day, just to find out later that isn't the case. I let my intuition lead the process of using colors and shapes. The journey a painting can take me through is often surprising. I try to leave my paintings open for an interaction with the observer. While I use mostly oil, my wife Sandy uses acrylic paint. Sandy is a lot more deliberate than I am in that she chooses a direction before she starts painting, and then tweaks it into what it wants to be; essentially an inner landscape. If you are reading this, you do not have the Adobe Flash Player installed. Please visit Adobe's website to download the latest version. Giora Stavi giorastavi@hotmail.com