Artist's Statement

What does any artist mean but this? Look! See what I see.

In my paintings, drawings, collages, and other pieces, I use recognizable subject matter as a point of departure to explore abstract ideas. Certain images and themes recur in my work: fish, trees, windows and doors, chairs, rooms, the sinuous lines of snakes and rivers, and the silhouetted human form. I am drawn to the endless possibilities of color, texture, line, and form to explore the point of balance between the abstract and the figurative, echoing but never repeating the variations found in life.

I love color -- vibrant, can't-miss-it color juxtaposed with more color. I am fascinated by the outlines of things, animals, people -- how the eye can follow these imaginary lines around, between, over, under, and create new shapes in the process. I love paint and everything it will do -- thick, thin, smooth, textured, brushed on, dabbed on, sponged on, pressed on with a drinking straw or a pencil eraser. I started with oil paint and switched to acrylics because of toxicity issues. I discovered that acrylic paint allowed me to work with an immediacy that suited me, and also allowed me to add paper, string, or other collage elements to the canvas in a strongly bonded way.

Each painting is a new exploration, often resulting in somewhat ambiguous images that provoke very individual viewer responses -- emotional, psychological, even political. I think every artwork should have this kind of active rather than static interpretive life -- empowering each viewer to determine the work's ultimate meaning, and allowing that meaning to change over time.