Bliss

Bill Stone’s Bliss is a brightly colored and cheerful abstract painting defined by gestural yet precise brushstrokes and thick impasto. The palette is perfectly balanced with harmoniously arranged passages of yellows, burgundies, oranges, and blues. The rich and thick applications of paint enliven the composition and create, communicate, and capture the sense of bliss Stone wishes to convey. The brushwork is liberated, carefree, and ecstatic but maintains painterly intentionality that pulls the viewer in without overwhelming them. Often people think of abstract painting as lacking attention to detail or even requiring an absence of it, but one need look no further than Bliss to see the falsehood of this notion. Stone carefully plans his colors and their placement, and each brushstroke is inscribed on the canvas with deliberate and studied attention.