Artist Statement

I’m a thrill seeker.  I revel in being scared, for me painting is like jumping off metaphorical cliffs as there is no rush greater than confronting a blank painting surface with my task being to bring it to life as though it were a puzzle of some kind.  Painting fulfills my need to be at the edge of whatever I feel I am at the edge of at any given time.  For many years I indulged this desire by slashing and burning my way across my paper, canvas or panel, creating highly energetic, brightly colored works. 

In 2018 this all changed abruptly as a result of my spouse, a Vietnam Vet, having a severe, prolonged and debilitating mental health breakdown several years earlier.  My cliffs became narrower in vision and all the color literally drained from my work.  I was adrift from myself and my work. 

This lengthy illness compelled me to explore and focus on my own interior and emotional landscape as a survival strategy.  My current work mirrors this ongoing journey, involving the creation of luminous depth on my painting surface with multiple and seemingly endless layers of transparent acrylic paint in primarily a neutral palette, alternated with a variety of marks, both agitated and controlled, made with drawing tools such as graphites, crayons, pastels and charcoal.  These tools enable me to portray the various intense emotions involved in this struggle while the more open veiled area provide both the viewer and I with a contrasting sense of calm, a hope for the continued return to normalcy. The result is atmospheric, introspective, moody and mysterious, meant to invite the viewer into my world, take a look around and ponder its depth.  My purpose is to give authentic voice to what is felt but unseen, through the harmonizing of line, shape, color and texture.