Artist Statement

I find myself positioned in a delicate balancing act between contemporary civilization and the ancient natural world. I am part of both, but feel more strongly bonded to Nature, seeking refuge in her hills, grassy fields, shorelines, mountains, and deserts. My daily experience of nature is informed by the activities of gardening and walking: both the close observation and the tactile sensation of moving through the landscape. These sensory experiences are dictated by issues of scale, positioning myself within an intimate space in the garden or as a relatively small being within a vast landscape. In the studio, I use these sensory memories to trigger entry points into the paintings, forming compositions around the special moments of connecting to nature.

Over the years, I’ve created series of artworks inspired by the landscapes I’ve observed through hiking and exploring the shorelines, hills, and mountains of the Bay Area, Marin Headlands, Sierra and Cascade ranges, deserts of New Mexico, and my beloved Appalachians. Walking through the native grasses sparkling in the sunny afternoon wind, I unwind, reconnect to the natural world, and refocus my mind. In the wooded landscapes, the sinuous lines of dark limbs and vines silhouetted against the multi-textured terrain inspire my drawing, pulling me into the space. As I hike, I am in awe of the immense beauty in the details of the landscape, of light filtering through the canopy and energizing the shadow-filled forest floor.

Observing the flux of shoreline environments inspired my Along the Edge series of gouache and oil paintings. Under a serene surface, however, there is a constant churning as the cycle of the tide works away at the shoreline. Considering this natural process as metaphor for psychological cycles of peace, turmoil, destruction, and rebirth, I worked the paintings in this series to have a range of mood. As a result, the paintings explore the idea of Nature as an emotive force on the psyche.

Like the multi-faceted natural life cycle, my response to nature is continually transforming, encompassing a range of emotion and experience. The work embraces representation and abstraction as I search for the best way to express my vision.