The philosophy of what I do revolves mainly around the human psyche, and the search for who and what we are in the cosmos. My original life desire was to be an archaeologist which has translated into my style of painting. I incorporate layers of paint, paper, gesso, charcoal, markers, and graphite to capture an environment of discovery. The randomness of marks and texture made in an uncontrolled manner enables me to unearth the past at a later point in the process. Comparing the nano seconds of time involved in my work to the vastness of the millennia of human history seem to mimic each other as I dig through the previous day’s work to unearth my personal microcosm of history.
Music helps to create another veil of surprise and curiosity while I’m working on a piece. I listen to anything from opera to rock to world music. It can cause me to dance or bring me to tears. This energetic surprise can result in an intriguing element within a painting.
Grid work routinely appears as I paint. This could be due to a couple of early influences, as a child. My Mother was a seamstress of clothing and later owned a successful drapery business. My entire life has been shrouded in fabric from satins to burlap. As her helper, my eyes were focused on threads weaving together. My parents were also airplane pilots, so I spent a lot of time in the backseat of airplanes looking down at the lines created by fences, crops, roads, cities, and rivers. The world appeared to be a quilt of random, yet cohesive, patterns of existence.
Another influence for me is the creation of living things and the source of all: seeds. All forms of seeds, including eggs and pods, hold a fascination for me. The magic of nourishment, sunlight, water, and rest coming together to miraculously make and support a new life, be it human or plant, is mind boggling. A poppy plant came from a seed smaller than a head of a pin. Pure cosmic sleight of hand…
I am also intrigued by the 12,000 generations standing behind me in this dance. Every experience from each of these lives flows quietly through my circulatory system. They can appear in my figurative work as ghostly or forgotten souls.
