I have always lived my life having an appreciation for the natural environment. I paint nature that is inspired by raw emotion and earthly forces. I rely on my senses to inform and transform what I see and feel. I look for and am intrigued by the synergistic relationships of the complex, or “grand” in nature with the micro, or “small.” I enjoy the freedom in being able to reconstruct nature as a way to transcend the “everyday,” avoiding predictability, to create an exaggerated, interpretive pictorial space. I am drawn to the mysteries that lie in voids rather than in the identity of solids. Balancing blurred boundaries with distinct detail, initiating tensions within line, saturated color, dense form, open space, and surface quality are recurring themes of mine. My process begins by observing and becoming sensitive to and bonding with the elements that compose a landscape. Immersing myself in an environment allows me the opportunity to create a "vision" or mental image from mere flashes of light or glimpses of action. My attention to the subject is heightened by swirling life forces and symphonic sound, as wind, water, bird song, and fleeting, ephemeral light collide. I react to nature’s vibrations as the energy of a place takes it’s lead. My ultimate goal is to capture the essence of a place.
My working process involves referencing sketches, or recalling those mental images of significant natural events that I’ve witnessed. I am interested in generating duality in my work. I establish active brushstroke contrasted by airy glaze. I compose the landscape by shaping the real versus the imagined space. I employ ideas of fragile v. rigid, elegant v. rough, and organic v. the manufactured. It is important in my work that I manipulate materials to continuously make new discoveries in adding to my visual vocabulary. My work suggests a personal and visceral response to the natural spaces, suggesting subject matter that produces gestural and fluid, often whimsical movement on the painting surface. It is important that my paintings are made with a degree of energy and integrity equal to that of what originally caught my gaze.