Artist Statement

I want to grab hold of the elusive elements of mist and fog. I want to walk on the clouds. I want to hold onto the energy of a crashing wave. I want to do this with paint. The the spaces between things, for example, the air between me and the distant mountains; the liquid between the surface of the water and the ocean floor is what I want to capture in paint. I am interested in creating images that convey my interpretation of the idea of space and light. The space that I refer to is an illusion created with paint. Not three-dimensional space, but the illusion of space that moves between two and three dimensions.

I use images, memories and conditions that occur in the landscape as departure points for my work. My current work focuses on water, reflections, and images of growth and decay in the landscape. In the beginning of a series, it is helpful to me to start with a concrete form. This form or image is the skeletal layer of the painting. Through the process of painting, the initial image is blurred or buried. From that point, I struggle to develop the visual language necessary to allow the painting to speak.

Process is important to my work in many ways. The conditions in the landscape, which inspire me, are “works in progress.” From day to day, moment–to-moment, the appearance of the sky and water are shifting and changing. The manipulation of paint on canvas during the creation of a painting echoes the shifting and changing appearance of the landscape. This is of central importance to my work. While a struggle, it is necessary for me to relinquish control to the flow of the medium, often resulting in the loss of what I initially painted. It is through the building up and scraping away of paint that the rediscovery begins. I use color and texture rather than perspective as key elements in creating the illusion of layered space.