Absract: To "extract the essence from"

This is the reason that I paint. I want to remember that little jewel of time when I was able to experience "the essence of" whatever was in front of me or around me. What sparks this moment is different from time to time. Sometimes it is the light as it colors and warms the land or an object, it could be the color in a cast shadow, it might be the line as it defines a person or a crack in the sidewalk that appears to be the same in the wall of a canyon. Often it is the feeling of the warm wind of the night time desert, or the weight in the palm of my hand of the stone or piece of fruit as it ripens, it could be the first taste of that fruit that will trigger the moment.
Then my process is to begin with that line, shape or color adding and subtracting until I have matched the feeling. The result will be realistic, impressionistic or totally abstract. I just paint until it is there. I have found that the viewer often has a very different response to the painting. This is because we all have different experiences and so respond to stimuli in a different way I believe that this is as it should be. Each one of us is unique and individual and our reaction to any given stimuli is important to the whole.