Art for me is a process of organizing materials and elements to awaken the senses and emotions in a way that inspires contemplation, healing and wholeness. Much as a poet arranges word symbols and sound to suggest a meaning, forms in space and relationships of color similarly reach beyond that of simply revealing an impression of the subject itself.
The essential inquiry that inspired my career was to try to find a way through visual art to suggest the source of an ecological conscience. It is by showing the viewer the forms, colors, and relationships in the landscape, as well as the wildlife and flora that inhabit it, that I hope to awaken and strengthen this awareness. My paintings are not meant to be just a description but rather a suggestion of reality; the spirit within nature. While the intellect is important in the creation and understanding of art, it is in what the viewer senses and feels where in the meaning of the piece is found.
My paintings are evidence of what has been significant to me. They are bookmarks as to the places I’ve been and the feelings I had when I was there. Landscape, nature and the community of birds and animals that surround us are part of what we all are. They are what inspire my work, and I hope to connect people to them. My hope is that the viewer may be able to engage in a wordless dialogue with them. If the viewer finds them beautiful, I hope they will inspire a sense of responsibility to the life around us to which we are intrinsically connected
A favorite quote:
I can still find no better definition for the word art than this; nature, reality, truth; but with a significance, a conception, a character which the artist brings out in it, and to which he gives expression; which he disentangles and makes free and clears up. -Vincent Van Gogh
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