Artist's Statement

I think of my paintings as landscapes of my inner world. The work isn’t meant to be literal, but instead is influenced by memories of places I've been and experiences from the life I've led. I am drawn to the appearance of urban and rural landscapes as viewed from the air, and the textures and colors of old weathered surfaces, particularly those with remnants of text and numbers. I am trying to incorporate all of these into my current body of work.

I like to begin a painting without any expectation of a specific outcome. I always begin with mark – making, then play until the surface is sufficiently activated. Layers of paint and collage are laid down, scraped into, then painted over until a history forms. The process continues until something speaks to me. From there the painting takes me where it wants to go. I'm particularly energized by the juxtaposition of contrasts: defined versus blurred edges, the boldness of opaque color fields versus the subtlety of nearly transparent color washes. A great day in the studio is when the painting seems to paint itself and I lose all track of time and place.