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ular, and it was then I came to some understanding of the way these painters controlled their big shapes even when [[strikethrough]] different [[/strikethrough]] elements of different size and scale were included within those large shapes. At the same time, [[strikethrough]] I was also very much interested in the [[/strikethrough]] I was also studying the technique which enabled Chinese classical painters to organize their large areas.

I began to paint more thinly, often on natural linen where I left sections of the canvas unpainted, so that the tan linen had the function of a color. Then in a transition toward what turned out to be my present style I painted broad movements of color on various thicknesses of paper and glued these papers on canvas, usually, in several layers. I tore sections of the paper away, always attempting to tear upward and across on the picture plane until some motif engaged me. When this happened, I added more paers [[papers]] and painted additional movements to mplete [[complete]] the painting.

In beginning a work now, I first put down several rectangles of color, some of which, as in a Rembrandt drawing, are in the same ratio as the canvas. I next might paste a photograph, maybe of a head, in the general area where I expect a head to be. The type of photograph doesn’t matter as it will be greatly altered, as this stage I try only to establish the general layout of the composition. When that is accomplished, I attempt ever more definite statements, superimposing other materials over those I started with. I try to move up and across the surface in much the same manner as I had done with the torn papers, avoiding deep diagonal thrusts and the kind of arabesque movements favored by the great baroque painters. Slanting movements I actually regard as a tilted rectangle, and I try to find some compensating answer to [[place?]] these movements back on the horizontal and vertical axis.

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