I have no formula but consider design and value most important aesthetically to hold a painting together.  I break things down into simple shapes, not concerning myself what the object really is but how it will contribute to an abstract design. I allow myself the freedom to change, exaggerate, simplify, scrape, sand, glaze, repaint etc. I tie shapes together forming abstract patterns until something resonate within myself, I trust feeling, instinct and intuition above everything else.
   I try to eliminate the unnecessary, it is the search for that indefinable connection that tells you when you have said something  close to your own true nature, it is different for everyone and this, to me, is where the beauty of art lives. Some will find it in the skill of rendering  the subject, some in the ambiguity of an abstraction. I try not to limit or restrict anything in this search. I try to remain open, curious, and vulnerable.

  The richest part of painting is when you make that internal connection, I am constantly searching within myself to find that connection. You will have to discover it for your self, it is different for everyone.... that what makes art so beautiful.