The Original of Love series marks my journey through Brooklyn over a five year period. The paintings started out as pencil drawings on handmade paper and later became ink drawings, a process which took place in Crown Heights and Bay Ridge. Acrylic paint was introduced to the surface of the works in 2016 while I was living in Clinton Hill. The compositions combine a rough expressionist style — reminiscent of my early works — and a cleaner line and edge that I began using while studying in New York with Howard Buchwald. This relationship continues my search for an image dedicated to pure color and feeling. I did not use black in Original of Love and that is a departure from the Void Signifier and On the Other Side series. In my previous works, I used black to create gravity within the image and enhance the contrast. When I removed black from the palette, the paintings became about color temperature. This was both exciting and problematic because it forced me to focus on the drawing part of painting more than ever before. The drawing and redrawing with paint, one composition over another, created an accumulation of seductive paint skin and visual tension.