Vincent van Gogh wrote these words to his brother Theo in 1889. When I read them a century later they were like a whispered reminder, as if the words were meant for me alone. For it is the hunger for color which drives us to these places. For myself, temptation lies in wait in white, white canvas and metal tubes of pure color and brushes of hog hair and red sable with which to work the strange alchemy of light, color and texture that attempts to reveal the energy of the subject to you, dear viewer.

It is a maddingly wonderful goal that borders between improbability and chaos, blended always with the euphoria of watching my hand, as if unbidden, wielding the brush and giving the colors their peculiar life that is beyond the comprehension and control of the alchemist. I pour myself completely into these paintings, trying to communicate with you through the patterns and colors of these, my songs.

I myself am the matter of my painting.

Nathan Beatty