Then is Now
These paintings fuse figure and landscape into single organisms. Bodies recline into hillsides. Architectural elements appear in these natural environments. A sense of place fades in and out of the wild elements. Thick, raw and intentionally composed marks build upon thin layers of wash to provide depth of texture in paint. Personal photographs as well as imagery and works of art from magazines and books are used to construct rudimentary collages. Form, color, marks and images are pulled from the collage onto the painted canvas. As the paintings evolve on canvas I include visual solutions that appear in my daily life. Within worlds of neutrals and skin tones, surprising rust orange lays next to midnight blue as it stretches beneath greyed violets that were pulled in from a fall sunset.
Motion and glitches create a shifting of perspective in these works. A limb being held by stone in one area moves into a dissolved break in the view with a robin’s egg blue junk yard wooden box on the other side of it. The space around the image isn't empty air but consciousness made substance. The sense of space is provided by far off distant views in one corner and near horizon lines in the other.
“A Way” Artist Statement
I begin my practice of making by sitting in quiet and the present. My mind will begin to move through thoughts. I often find while I explore my own thoughts about current life I also jump through portals to escape strong feelings. History, architecture, interior and exterior, as well as vast landscapes often appear as an escape to pleasure for me.
This series is allowing space to be with the present moment as well as giving an opening to move into imagined pleasure. This process of having an awareness of my current struggles then slipping into pleasure allows me to return to the present with a soothed nervous system. The reward to this practice is that I am better able to navigate current issues at hand with the pleasure, even if imagined, in my body.
“Churning” Artist Statement
In this body of work I share my process of looking through various imagery to desensitize myself from the judgement that my history and brain brings to the imagery. Through the process of painting I witness and difficult experiences and bring them to beauty through observation and acceptance. The practice is done in an attempt to hold space in me for the knowing of humanity, its relationship to the natural world, loss, abundance and connection. I’m using pattern and color to relate pain and pleasure as they coexist. The imagery allows the conversation or stories to be explored by the viewer, the relationships of the imager change over time.
Thick, raw and intentionally composed marks build upon thin layers of wash to provide depth of texture and application of paint as a sensual experience. This visual field creates a conscious space for the viewer to travel within the architectural construct of the image. Details of washes and lines collide with thick brush strokes and drags. The micro world of the paint and the macro world of the imagery allow for an abstracted reflection of the natural world, religion and pop culture to explore within the edges of the canvas.
“Soul Juice” Artist Statement
The pumping of one’s own heart, the fullness of air in the lungs and the release as the chest falls. This is the pathway to peace in the nervous system. My work is a witness to the experience of being in the body and how that connection can allow beauty and challenges in life to be taken in fully and let go of easily.
This series is created with a light touch on the top of space, entanglement, flow and the relationship of all of those elements occurring simultaneously. Through variation of paint application, mark, image and flat forms the observer is provided a mental map in which to allow present thoughts to lay out amongst the physicality of paint.
“In the Quiet” Artist Statement
My work attempts to connect people through their similar experiences. I create a visual field that invites people from all paths to partake in an intimate journey of transforming pain into acceptance. Through this acceptance, compassion for the self can be found and with this comes compassion for others. I have found this process to be at the core of many spiritual practices and a basic need of all people. I embrace it in my own work.
I have chosen to develop a common visual language of natural imagery to communicate about the common goal of personal development. The comfort of familiar elements appears (fruits, intestines, bone) as well as an opening to the unknown abstracted space. Thick, raw and intentionally composed marks build upon thin layers of wash to provide depth of texture and application of paint as a sensual experience. This visual field creates a conscious space for the viewer to travel within the architectural construct of the image. I’m inspired by the soulful imagery of iconic religious art, mandalas, indigenous art and visionary work. These works act as visual reminders to hold on to our ideals of self-realization, reminders to do the work so we can connect to our good.
This series is based on the scientific process of a solid mass transforming into a light veil of gas. As wood transforms through fire into smoke so does pain transform through acceptance into compassion. This process begins with looking at what is present. Through breath and observance in the body, the pain is allowed to complete its cycle and transform into a past experience that rises and billows. Eventually the experience disperses into tiny particles that connects to all the particles of other shared experiences in humanity.