One of my newest paintings, "Spiral," represents two shifts in my work that will impact my future paintings for some time.

First, I chose a bright, hot pinkish-purple for the background color. In this series, the focus is on the figure, not the space around her. In previous paintings, when faced with negative space I didn't want to include, I went with black (or close to black) - such as in "Crush." But my heart craves color, and so here we are.

I have a two-person show coming up soon at Fort Works Art gallery in Fort Worth, Texas. I'm showing 12 paintings and drawings, 5 of which are brand new. Each one of them has a solid color background. Mostly pastel greens, turquoises, lilacs and softer pinks. "Spiral" was the genesis of that direction and I plan to continue pursuing that in some way going forward.

The next shift that this painting represents is my deviation from canvas. Most painters start out using stretched canvas, and most of my work is still made on the sturdy, reliable material. But I craved something different, and had heard so many good things about painting on linen. So I gave it a try with "Spiral." There's just something about the smooth, organic grain of the surface that made painting on it absolutely delightful. Other painters who have switched from canvas to linen know what I mean. It is a bit more expensive than canvas, but it's worth it. You'll see more and more of my work made on linen in the future.

Here are a few high-resolution images of "Spiral," oil on linen, 2017.