Artist Statement

For most of my adult life I have taken a path in which nature, especially wilderness has been a primary teacher. Most of my paintings originate out-of-doors, often on walks while exploring wild nature. Listening to what catches my attention, curious as to what touches and stirs something beyond words, often it is a simple aesthetic moment that I am blessed to notice that births an image. By being interested in where my attention resides while I am in wild natural environments, I let the subjects of my paintings reveal themselves. I gather these moments kinesthetically, in drawings, and photographs all of which I work from. I choose to blur the boundaries between animate and inanimate, and in my better moments, I aspire to see all as alive and all as participate. In their better moments each painting spins a web of connection between the sensually felt, heart felt, and intellectual worlds in which all is alive and participate. When successful, each painting invites us to curiosity, awareness, intimacy, and awe in the inherent mystery of all things. I engage in the process of painting to deepen my understanding of self and my relationship to that which is greater than self, especially as expressed in wild nature.

This recent series of works were created and inspired by people, places, and things within a small radius of my home in Big Sur. I generally work with oils on canvas as my favorite way to enter the creative process of seeing and being with nature, although recently I have also been enjoying the simplicity of graphite on paper. In the paintings selected for this site I have chosen works, which reveal the sometimes hidden intimacies of the natural world. Thank you for your interest.