Valerie Brennan interviews painter Joel Longnecker about his work and process.

Longnecker comments: "I’m after an organic, generative process where one thing slowly leads to another with each piece resolving itself in it’s own way. Working like this makes it impossible for me to duplicate what I’ve already done, keeping the process open and alive. I always start several things at once, but am careful to quickly fold them into the work that is already in progress. In a sense, my work never 'starts' or 'stops,' but instead is more like a continuous loop in which things are cycled in and out. Ultimately, what I want is for the paintings to look like they’ve created themselves, much like a tree, or any other bit of nature, that slowly grew into it’s final form."