During my residency at VSC I started working on a series of factory-dyed 5’ x 7’ canvas tarp paintings. I first reverse-dye them with bleach to set the stage: forming frames, fields, grids, maps and environments, then meticulously applying acrylic medium and paint using vinyl stenciling that metaphorically and visually float on the surface of the tarps with loose gestures embedded in the fabric. Of interest to me is a sense of theatricality, presentation, and play. As a way to bring my design practice into my paintings, I often return to a set of visual icons–bunches of netting, bricks, and storm-like swirls to name a few–that here act as characters within the tarp tableaux. By reprocessing these familiar forms into large-scale works, I aim to develop new meanings for these symbols to create a sense of hyper-reality and fantasy.