Steve Griffin began painting the “Strata” series in the spring of 2007. The basic horizontal stripe compositions in these paintings were initially inspired by the abundant river views in the beach town where he lives, but the end result more closely resembles a cross-section of earth or the strata found in rocks.

The painting process itself is similar to an archaeological dig. The artist applies multiple layers of paint which are eventually sanded and scraped to reveal previously forgotten colors and textures. This method of painting retains an element of chance in an otherwise very structured format.