Artist's Statement

My work has concentrated on spiritual paintings about the earth. These paintings suggest a vision of the earth as a finite set of elements which continually interact and transform. Instead of making a snapshot of a moment frozen in time, I want to convey the feeling of time passing: of cycles of growth and death and rebirth while the light moves across the sky. The images of trees, rocks, sun, moon, clouds, and stars are universal, and thus are symbols loaded with associations. Each of these elements forms a part of the network of relationships in the paintings, and may appear in several stages at once, showing a progression over time. Using multiple perspectives within the works allows the viewer to enter the image from a variety of starting points.

The recent Mandala Series utilizes round compositions, referring to many mandala traditions of Eastern and Western cultures.  Using landscape as a point of departure, these works explore themes of sacred geometry and play with pictorial space.  The fourth dimension, time, has an important role.

The American western landscape is often a player in my work.  I am interested in the landscape experienced, not just the landscape observed.  Sometimes  figures and animals float through or gaze out, finding their place in the world of the painting.

In my work, color imbues the work with energy and resonance. Color is not subordinate to form. My work as a painter is like that of a composer. I put together the abstract qualities of color, as the composer uses tones, to evoke emotion. As with the composition of music, the process of painting is a constant search for new and evocative color harmonies.

Some of these paintings have a fairy-tale quality. But to me they are not narratives. The world of the paintings is metaphorical and magical, transcending space and time. Each painting begins with an experience or perception, and strives for a revelation of that experience.