My paintings and prints explore the interactions of the built and natural environment and result from close observations of light, value, color and form. I seek to create imagery which envelops the viewer. I peer into, behind, around and through changing scenarios by bending spaces in order to reveal their dynamic interior life. By utilizing multiple and curvilinear perspectives, I attempt to “take it all in” as if I were floating through space to capture the dynamics of time, change, motion and meaning.
My process involves working en plein air, surrounded and enveloped by the environment. Working on location enables me to respond to direct visual stimuli and experience the sensations of nature. I also work in the studio in order to re-create, remember and capture the essence of my on-site experiences. This process involves re-thinking and responding to my plein air work; combining and creating observed and imagined images in the form of paintings, mono-prints, etchings and lithographs.
What fascinates me about the dynamic interactions of the built and natural environment are the narratives these relationships suggest about the people who envision, construct, occupy, adapt and re-create forms and spaces over time. The juxtaposition of architectural and natural forms, in their current state of life and decay, visually indicate stories about the forces of time, history, purpose and meaning. By painting cityscapes and landscapes from various vantage points, I want my work to challenge viewers to perceive the built environment as a natural manifestation of our ideas about home and shelter. Far from being opposites, the built and natural environments are part of a continuum of life in which a skyscraper is no less a part of nature than the cocoon created by a moth.