Ostinato — Embodied Painting in Rhythm
Ostinato is a continuation of my Embodied Painting practice, in which I explore the relationship between rhythm, repetition, movement, and paint. Created through dance in response to the "Game of Thrones Main theme", I allow the music and my physical movement to guide the painting process rather than beginning with a predetermined composition.
For this series, I first created highly textured surfaces using organic forms, joint compound, spackle, plaster of Paris, gesso, aluminum foil, and drywall tape. Once the surface is complete, I responded to the music through dance, translating rhythm, repetition, gesture, and physical energy into paint.
The resulting paintings are records of both movement and resistance—the body moving across a complex, tactile surface and responding to the rhythm as the painting emerges.
Watch the performance that gave rise to Ostinato, then continue below to explore the paintings and the process behind them.
The paintings created through this process are shown below.
Ostinato I
Diptych — Textured mixed media on plywood panels
48" H x 72" W
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Fully primed on front, back, and sides
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Finished with a UV-protective archival clear coat
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Ready to hang with an integrated French cleat hanging system
$2,000 for the diptych
Original artwork available for purchase.
For purchase inquiries, please use my Contact page.
Ostinato I I
Diptych — Textured mixed media on plywood panels
48" H x 72" W
-
Fully primed on front, back, and sides
-
Finished with a UV-protective archival clear coat
-
Ready to hang with an integrated French cleat hanging system
$2,000 for the diptych
Original artwork available for purchase.
For purchase inquiries, please use my Contact page.
Room settings are digital mockups and are intended to provide an approximate representation of the finished artwork
The Story Behind the Paintings
Drawn to the Rhythm
I've long been moved by Ramin Djawadi's "Game of Thrones Main Title", and I'd been wanting to create a dance painting to it.
I began by pairing it with the main title from Pacific Rim, also by Ramin Djawadi, knowing I'd be painting for longer than the Main Title runs. The combination didn't gel, so I went back to the one piece that felt right and put it on repeat. For nearly an hour.
The repetition became part of the experience. Rather than simply a soundtrack, it created a rhythm I could enter into and respond to. That is where Ostinato I & II began.
Learning from Lightenup
Lightenup taught me a great deal about bringing my whole body into the painting process. It also taught me something practical: a large panel lying on the floor becomes extremely slippery under wet paint.
For Ostinato, I changed the setup. I swapped the heavy engineered wood for lightweight plywood from Home Depot and reduced the panels from 4 × 8 feet to 4 × 6, knowing I couldn't comfortably reach the top of a 4 × 8 panel standing upright. And this time, both panels would stand.
The costume
I'd imagined more of a costume: a black jumpsuit with a tunic and belt, a silhouette that would become part of the visual experience. But once I began moving, the extra layers were too hot and restrictive, so I took them off.
The black jumpsuit remained, chosen to contrast with the blue, red, black, white, and gold of the paintings. As the performance progressed, it picked up traces of paint and became another surface recording the experience.
Entering the painting
I expected the lighter plywood and upright panels to make things easier. Instead, they changed my relationship to the work. The plywood didn't invite the forceful, physical engagement the heavier wood had. I wasn't pushing against it.
But that limitation opened something else. I became more attentive to the painting itself, and I began to feel drawn into it, as though the boundary between my body and the surface was loosening. My movements became a conversation with what was already there: the marks, the colors, the movement of the paint, the space developing in front of me.
For moments, the painting wasn't something I was making. It was something I was entering.
Surrendering to the rhythm
The music played again and again. At first I was aware of the repetition. Eventually I wasn't.
It gave me something to return to while everything else stayed open. I could respond to the painting, change direction, move closer, step back, and let the marks accumulate. The process became less about deciding what the painting needed and more about being present with what was happening.
Where Lightenup was a strongly physical dance, Ostinato drew me inward.
What I learned
Ostinato taught me that embodiment doesn't have to mean more force or more of the body. Sometimes it becomes quieter. With Lightenup, I discovered the freedom of moving through a painting. With Ostinato, I discovered what it feels like to be drawn into one.
An ostinato is a musical phrase that repeats throughout a composition. For me, that repetition became a container for the painting process: a steady rhythm within which movement, intuition, and response could keep changing.
This is what continues to shape my Embodied Painting practice. I begin with music as a catalyst, without knowing where the movement will take me or what the painting will become.
I enter the process.
And I allow the painting to draw me in.