Contemporary Abstract Expressionism I Rain on the Canal

This painting is built from horizontal bands that stack up from top to bottom like layers of reflection on water. Steel blue, denim, and navy form the base, alternating with stripes of warm gold and soft apricot and deep rust red. The gold appears in several bands: across the top, through the middle right, on the left lower down, and along the bottom, glowing like sunlight on the surface. The rust and brick red bands run between them, adding warmth and depth. Patches of bright white and pale blue break through in places, especially in the middle and right, like light catching on ripples. What makes this painting distinctive is the drips. Thin pale grey-blue lines run straight down across the entire canvas, crossing every band of colour. They look like rain falling on a window, or reflections trembling on a canal. The paint is dragged sideways with a knife in short, rough strokes, so the bands have broken, feathered edges and the canvas texture shows through. The vertical drips give the horizontal layers a sense of movement and rhythm. It reads as a city canal at sunset in the rain, with buildings and lights reflected and broken up on the water, a very Amsterdam scene.