For the Portland series, which was only my second series of paintings, I was looking to define the style of work I wanted to create but also define what kind of painter I wanted to be. Most of these pieces were created intermittently in short, angry bursts of energy. Summer, the first series I had made was largely about tearing the medium apart and experimenting with fire, bleach, and other destructive agents. With that in mind, many of the pieces I created for Portland are based around the idea of capturing the spirit of Summer’s destructive process without actually harming the canvas.