If you asked me why I paint I would
answer that it is my passion. I find joy in it and
through it I can share my joy with others. What I
do probably won't change the world but it does give
meaning to my life and I hope in a small way to others.
Since I was a child I have expressed myself artistically
through a variety of media. I graduated with a degree
in Printmaking and went to Europe a few years later
where I lived for 7 years. There I began working in
pastels and explored the medium predominately for
over 15 years. Plein Air painting, however, has become
my most recent obsession, along with painting in oils.
I am honored, awed, challenged and humbled by the
experience of painting nature outdoors. Content for
years as a studio artist, I have finally traded in
my comfort zone for the challenges of working with
the changing light, kamikaze bugs, wind, and fog,
and I love it, ( not necessarily the fog). It is the
hardest thing I have ever done artistically, and the
most rewarding.
My entire academic background had been based on abstract
art. It moved me and I intentionally avoided landscapes
except to use them as a vehicle to transform in my
work. Nature has nonetheless,always been my greatest
inspiration. It is there that I have turned for direction
and for clarity in my life. Standing in a forest under
an expansive sky, is a religious experience for me.
It isn't surprising then, that I would eventually
grow in a new direction where I can respond immediately
to the colors and shapes I see, recording them on
canvas to hold captive in time.
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