Actually Really Nice to Have a Separate Space continues my exploration of smaller paintings as sites for experimentation—places where I can test ideas quickly and let intuition lead without too much pressure to resolve everything. In this piece, I’m working through a balance between structured brushwork and the more chaotic, physical presence of poured and splattered paint.

The background establishes a strong color field—pink shifting into deep blue—that creates a kind of atmospheric container for everything that happens on top. Within that space, layered brushstrokes begin to build a loose, circular energy, but that structure is partially overtaken by a network of poured lines and drips. These gestures feel less controlled, more reactive, cutting across and binding the composition together in a way that resists clean separation between foreground and background.

There’s a push and pull here between clarity and disruption that I keep coming back to. Some marks feel deliberate and placed, while others seem to arrive almost independently, as if the painting is making decisions on its own. The title speaks a bit to that dynamic—both literally, in terms of having a physical studio space to work things out, and metaphorically, in how the painting creates its own internal space where different approaches can coexist without needing to fully reconcile.