Mark Witzling

My journey as an artist has evolved from representational oil painting toward pure abstraction. I became fascinated with the art of the abstract expressionists and with abstract oil painting as a way to express myself creatively. To be “in the zone”. Painting is a solitary process and I find it meditative, and at times almost a form of prayer. My source of inspiration is truly multi-layered. Intellectually, I try to tackle intangible concepts in my paintings while technically I love using strong color, visually building up layers of paint and then excavating back into the layers to bring forth a contrast of colors and textures. My technique focuses on painting with oil and malleable cold wax medium as a fulfilling way of achieving the effects I am seeking and to bring out my personal creative visions. While painting, I rarely use traditional paint brushes, instead working with a variety of tools like pasty scrapers, rollers, sticks, and even old credit cards to apply and move paint around the surface. The result is often bold, sometimes subtle, and always, at least to me, optimistic, delightful, and engaging.
I am pleased to have my work appear in the recently (2107) published book Cold Wax Medium – Techniques, Concepts, Conversationsand my art has been featured in both print and television.