Oil Painting
I’m a devoted, life long artist. Since 2018, I have been immersed in the study of green. I am inspired by the magnificence of our natural world and use oil paints as my medium to celebrate its beauty. I admire the work of artists such as Lois Dodd and Fairfield Porter; their painted landscapes are sparse, quiet, and understated, yet very much alive. I work to capture the landscape in a loosely painted way, yet with enough detail to capture its defining essence truthfully. I use bold colors to define spaces clearly, while soft shadows inform a moment in time, as the light changes from morning to afternoon to evening. I am amazed at the expanse of beautiful scenery I see while traveling in my small home state of Delaware. One can find salt marshes, oceans, grasslands, rolling hills, ponds, wetlands and forests. I am captivated by them all. Sadly, the impacts of climate change are reflected in our local flora and fauna. My next step is to create a body of work in which the viewer will take note of this impact on our environment, and feel motivated to preserve its vast and precious natural beauty.
Mixed Media
I used to say that my final project at art school was my son. He was born in a Boston hospital right next to the school, where I could look out the window and see my friends doing raku in the parking lot. We lived in a little apartment. Having a studio for three dimensional work, while taking care of a newborn, was out of the question. So, I started fooling around with paint and paper, making two dimensional images. More than twenty years later, I was still working with paint and paper. I called these works “compeinage” (com-pen-ahzh), a made up French sounding description for “combined painting and collage.” I won some grants with the collage paintings, had shows, taught workshops, got into a few publications and told plenty of political and personal visual stories. These were busy years. But I am in a quieter space now and the landscapes reflect that change.