Line of Trees, 24 x 30, Oil on Canvas.
“I’ve been making art since before I can remember, first through photographs and film processing, studying graphic arts and advertising, finally realizing my voice with oil on canvas and linen. My early years were spent in New Jersey and New York State and our family often travelled the east coast by car. Watching outside the window, I enjoyed the varied beautiful sceneries and seeing life and landscapes through a soft-focus lens. I challenge myself in my work with these perspectives, varied subjects, playful new materials, not being easily satisfied until all things are uncovered, initial references and final subjects laid out to be seen and experienced through my point of view.
My focus lies in evoking and sharing these deeply rooted feelings of all things landscape; expansiveness of our lands, mountain and valley vistas filled with atmosphere and mystery, the warmth of our sunrise and sunsets, dramatic seasonal skies and clouds, gardens filled with local color and texture. As a small child, I was exposed to planting wild flowers and watching their progress and growth, and came to love gardens for their mystery and constant natural changes.
I start each painting with a sketch or a photograph I’ve taken of a place I’m inspired by, drawing key lines and shapes on the canvas. Then I work colors and gestures into each piece, keeping movement of shapes and color choice vibrant and unexpectedly soothing at the same time. Always looking for that soft focus through abstraction.
Recent works may incorporate mixed media materials, yielding an array of playful and instinctive discoveries I am compelled to push and continue. The finished paintings, through assertive gestures and artist marks, create a further expanded sense of imagery connecting emotion and recognition of natural shapes together; a final abstracted sense of place.”
Each day in the studio I ask, “What if I try…” as I begin anew, and am excited for the possibilities and challenges of the days’ work ahead.
